


The North Wind Blows

by Kolossus



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bad Wolf, Canon Rewrite, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Meddling TARDIS, Post Bad Wolf Bay, Pre-Bad Wolf Bay?, Reliving The Timeline, Season/Series 01, Space & Time, Team TARDIS, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2020-07-11 22:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 90,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kolossus/pseuds/Kolossus
Summary: The cold wind clung to her bare hands.A shiver passed through her chest and pressed deep into her heart. She was back. Again.Why was it always this beach? Why did it keep pulling her back?And she could still feel his hand in hers. The firm press of his colder fingers clenched around her all too human ones. The pulse of a single heartbeat in his new chest. New, new, new me. They had forever. But that forever turned out to be too short and she felt the waves sweep him out of her grasp.





	1. Prologue: Bad Wolf Bay

She was dreaming.

Probably.

Hopefully.

The air was different. Not quite right. Like a bad taste at the back of her throat. A burning coppery taste. It was _wrong. Something was wrong._ She could feel the pressure around her shift and change, the sun spun around her in quick cycles and she could sense the tilt of the ground beneath her. _She could feel the earth turning beneath her feet_. Almost as soon as she formed the thought she was pulled back. The ground solidified and began to slip beneath her as she sank into sand. The sound of waves droned out the white noise that had rung in her ears.The cold wind clung to her bare hands. A shiver passed through her chest and pressed deep into her heart.

She was back. _Again._ Why was it always this beach? Why did it keep pulling her back?

And she could still feel his hand in hers. The firm press of his colder fingers clenched around her all too human ones. The pulse of a single heartbeat in his new chest. New, new, new me. They had forever. But that forever turned out to be too short and she felt the waves sweep him out of her grasp. 

New him. Her consolation prize; her doctor but not-doctor. Her forever, but not his. Not either of his forever's. She could feel the tears begin to rise as she stared across the blank sands. She still had loved the human him. Loved the memories he still had, that he openly had shared about his adventures. She loved the new phrases he would sputter when she surprised him, the exclamations of happiness and joy that freely passed from his lips without that remnant of darkness the alien had always carried. She guessed she had Donna to thank for that. But she missed the old him, hated knowing that he was still out in their universe. No not _their's_ anymore. _His._ His universe. He was still in his universe, probably alone. She had seen the lie, had seen him make her choice for her. She knew she didn't choose the human him. But when he refused to tell her. She had thought, for a second, he didn't want her and had let the human him whisper the sweet words she had always wanted to hear him say. 

Rose almost cursed herself. No, she still loved the human him, he had stayed. Even when they figured out they couldn't travel with a TARDIS here. Even when they noticed he was dying. He didn't run like a certain Time Lord. Didn't force decisions on her. Didn't lie...

She threw her head back. She was getting nowhere with this dream. Her thoughts were just circulating between anger and loneliness. Two things Mum had warned her to never mix. She almost laughed, she could her her mum's voice, "You don't want to go mixing those, luv. it just leads to hating whoever you lost, and I can't imagine ever hatin' you're dad." Jackie Tyler may not have ever seemed all too smart, but she was the cleverest person Rose had ever known, Doctor or no. And she was right, she couldn't hate either of her Doctor's. She loved them, both of them. But she loved them differently and she hated herself for that. Especially because towards the end, when only a year or so had passed and the human Doctor's mind was seconds from imploding, she could only think of the full Time Lord and if that was what he felt when he regenerated in front of her. If Donna had done the same and they both were left alone. 

She could almost laugh at her stupidity. She had no more chances. She wasted her first Doctor, letting him skirt around her in a dance she could barely understand. Her second she lost first to the universe, even after she thought she had finally caught up to his new dance, and then she lost him to himself. His clone. And if losing both versions of the Time Lord wasn't enough she lost the human to time...and in a way herself. Once again too afraid to take a chance. To love him as she always had. But she hadn't, and she lost. She was afraid, because the last time she did something to prove she was his forever she woke up to her Doctor on fire.

_...the TARDIS looked into me._

Rose jumped back from the water and turned. No one stood behind her, but she could've sworn...

_I am the Bad Wolf I create myself..._

Bad Wolf? That was her voice, but it echoed in her head. Almost like the TARDIS' hum. But it was off. That familiar coppery taste hit the back of her throat. And a tear slid down her face. She brushed it away, looking at the single wet speck on her finger curiously. Sure, she had been sad but her anger had quickly stopped the tears. Besides, she wasn't even sure you could cry in a dream, even one as vivid as this.

_I want you safe. My Doctor._

Doctor...Her Doctor. When did she say this? Call him hers out loud?

Then suddenly and all at once Rose's head filled with a song. A beautiful melody that drifted across her body and curled at her feet. And as it stretched before her she felt that same pressure from before. The air shifted, and she saw her Doctor. Her first Doctor staring at her with sad blue eyes.

Why was he sad? She was here, she was here with him, protecting him and she saw everything. She saw the beach, the clone, herself looking through time back to this forgotten moment. She saw what she would have to do. And it hurt. She could feel herself burning as she pushed her mind through her own timeline as she stretched across locked time and bent it to her will.

_But why do they hurt?_

_The power's going to kill you._ No he didn't understand. The power was going to save her. Why couldn't he just see what she saw. Why were his eyes still so sad. Why did it burn?

 _It's killing me._ It was, she was supposed to be on a beach, without him. No that didn't sound right. He was hers and she his. They were supposed to be together.

 _I think you need a doctor._ She felt him palm her cheeks. She felt the cool press of his hands, still perfect in every form. She felt her tears slip down and burn across her skin. She felt his lips finally press to hers, and then, for a long time, she felt nothing but fire. 


	2. Rose: Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose backed up against the wall dropping the plastic bag she had been clutching to in order to raise her fists. "Alrigh', back off!" And just as she was preparing to hit another of the dummies a hand grabbed her clenched fist. She turned and time stopped.
> 
> Blue eyes. Leather.

"Oi. Oi! Tyler, you there?" A large hand clutching a plastic bag waved in front of her face. Rose looked up, her vision clearing from a strange golden haze to a solid colour and shape. A male face gazed at her, enveloping her view. She shrieked and backed up against a rack of clothing almost tipping it over. 

"Rose? You okay?" The man, or guard judging by his uniform, steadied her. Rose looked at him, really looked, and realized, with a strange sense of dread, she knew him. He was one of the security guards at Henrik's. One she couldn't believe she would dream about. 

"Derek?" Why was he here? Where was the beach?

"Yeah, it's me. You okay? You sure you can take the lottery down?" He peered down at her, pulling the bag away. She looked at it, it was full of lottery money, probably collected from half the employees. That was an annual thing at Henrik's, after paychecks went around Wilson would pool a lottery together. But she was only trusted with it once. The day she met the doctor. Was that what she was dreaming about?

She shook her head and held out her hand. "No, no. I got this, jus' a little headache is all." She smiled pulling her tongue between her teeth. After all, if this was a dream she might as well do this right. And maybe, just maybe she would get to see him again. Leather and all.

Derek smiled back and plopped the bag into her hand. "Ah right, Tyler, those customers must be difficult work for you, eh?" She frowned at the jab. He smirked at her irritated expression. She remembered Derek's teasing, and despite years of getting used to the Doctor's the way dream-Derek poked at her still made her bristle. "Just get that to Wilson and lock up." He waved a two-fingered salute and backed up through the shops door leaving her glaring after him. 

Rose sighed and clenched her hand tightly around the package. Oddly she felt the sharp prick of her nails on her skin. _Guess, you_ can _feel pain in dreams._ She shrugged and began to walk the familiar path down to the Doctor...and the Autons. 

The halls were quiet. Her trainers lightly squeaking every so often on linoleum. Her heart began to beat against her chest. She had almost forgotten the excitement of adventure. In Pete's World she spent most days working on getting back to the Doctor, and while that was an adventure on its own it was nothing like the adrenaline rush of running alongside him. The knowledge that she would feel that again, even in this dream state, was enough to get her heart pumping. 

Rose began to softly jog down the dark hallways of the basement. Past Wilson's office she paused. _Poor Wilson._ He was already gone and even here she knew she couldn't save him. But he was always nice to her, and she could only regret never being able to say goodbye. She shook her head, she needed to move. She had no idea how long this dream would last, and she'd rather it not turn into a nightmare. She reminded herself Wilson's been dead for years now, saving him here wouldn't bring him back. Rose turned, mentally waving the goodbye she never got to give him and apologizing for his fate. 

Slowly, she crept between old boxes of clothing, steering clear of the dressed dummies. Even though she had faced the Autons with relative ease, dummies still sent a shivers down her spine. The human bodies without faces, without emotion freaked her out. Carefully she ducked under another outstretched arm, hoping that the Autons wouldn't decide to grab her now in the dream. Then, without warning, the door behind her slammed shut and she let out a small yelp. 

Right, she forgot about that. 

Rose panted gripping at her chest as her heart threatened to leap out. "Hello?" Maybe, she could meet him before the dummies got her. She really rather not feel their cold, plastic hands grab at her again. Especially since this dream was starting to trudge up nightmares she'd had as a kid about toys waking up to kill her.

She shuddered. She still couldn't watch Toy Story despite the Doctor's best efforts.

A noise clattered behind her. She turned to look at the fallen box. The dummy she had ducked under was now facing her. It's empty face and sullen eyes staring straight at her. Ugh, that was creepy.

"Doctor?" She really hoped he would get there to drag her out. The shuffling of plastic feet began to draw nearer as she crept along the wall. 

A shape materialized before her. Decidedly male, and tall. She blew a sigh of relief. Here he was. She would get to see him again, her blue eyed Doctor. Rose smiled and moved towards him. "There you are..." The figure reached out and white peered through the small amount of light that poured into the dim hall. Plastic. Definitely not the leather she was hoping for. 

Rose backed up against the wall dropping the plastic bag she had been clutching to in order to raise her fists. "Alrigh', back off!" Despite her fear, she knew she had to defend herself. Torchwood, at least Pete's Torchwood, was firm in its belief that fear should be used to protect yourself, whether that be running or fighting. Sadly, with the dummies closing in she couldn't do the former, luckily she had learned the latter from her dad. Quickly she struck the Auton closing in on her, a tightly clenched fist knocked its head clean off, forcing it back into a pile of boxes. She could see more dummies shifting as they animated, another closed in preparing to strike at her. She ducked and sent a kick straight to its abdomen as she pivoted to face another. She needed space. And they were too close. Her heart was racing, thudding against her chest. Ah, there's that adrenaline kick. And just as she was preparing to hit another of the dummies a hand grabbed her clenched fist. She turned and time stopped.

Blue eyes. Leather.

"Run!"

The Doctor tugged at her fist and pulled her down the corridor to another lift. The Autons raced after them attempting to claw at their clothes. But Rose had experience running. She relaxed her hand and gripped his tightly, feeling how his palm perfectly fit into hers. And they burst into the lift, him pointing his sonic at the buttons, slamming the doors shut. Well, almost. A single Auton arm was stuck scrapping at the door reaching for them. The Doctor let go of her hand and yanked the arm out, fully sealing the door.

Rose took a deep breath and turned to him. Her Doctor. He was looking back at her with a curious expression. _Oh. He doesn't know me._ _At least not in this dream_. 

"You punched off its head." He said after a moment. 

_Wait. That wasn't what he said last time._ To be fair she also hadn't fought off an Auton last time. She looked pointedly at the arm still in his hand. "You ripped its arm off."

He laughed. The loose chuckle she remembered. And if that didn't fill her with warmth, his small smile definitely did. Even after all this time, he was still her Doctor, her first Doctor.

Rose smiled. "So, what are they then? Obviously not human." She nodded towards the arm. Maybe, she could change the script, she missed him explaining things.

He looked at her again. An almost proud look crossed his face. _Apes aren't so clueless after all huh, Doctor?_

"They're plastic. Called Autons, these are." He tapped the arm and tossed it to her. "Being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this!" He pulled the small bomb from his jacket. Rose blanked. He definitely didn't do _that_ in the lift last time. Huh, guess she could change the dream.

The Doctor once again pulled out his screwdriver to stop the lift.

"And what's that?" She felt compelled to ask. Might as well get the basics down early this time. 

He smiled and pushed her out of the door. "This is my screwdriver!" He held it proudly in one hand the other still clutching a bomb. 

"A screwdriver really?" She tried to look unimpressed but a smile began to creep onto her face.

"Oi! Don't laugh, its sonic too!" He looked indignant and she was reminded of the pout he would develop in his next body. 

Rose just smiled at the memory and shook her head. "Yeah I'm sure it is." She murmured. 

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" She poked her tongue out between her teeth and tilted her head. He looked young. Which was weird to say about a centuries old alien. But his eyes looked fresh with pain. He had never said but she could guess. She met him right after the war, after he finished it and became the last Time Lord. The last of his kind. "What are you going to do with that?"

He looked down at the bomb with a drawn eyebrow. Then his head flipped up, a familiar manic grin spread across his face. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed. Although I bet you'll be fine." He gestured to her fists. Rose blushed, she never really fought when she was with him but she was glad he seemed to appreciate it. 

Rose, still blushing almost missed the sound of the door closing. "Wait!" The door paused. The Doctor peered his head out, eyebrows raised. "I.." She couldn't think of what to say. Suddenly, she feared if she let him leave her dream would end. "I'm Rose. Rose Tyler." He smiled, and God if that wasn't worth the dream ending.

"I'm the Doctor! Nice to meet you, Rose. Now-" He raised the bomb and waved it. "-run for your life." And with that the door closed and the Doctor disappeared. For a second Rose waited for the shrill sound of her alarm. Her mum would shake her awake, and she would finish her daydreaming over tea as Pete left for work and Tony wailed in the corner. But the longer she waited the less likely it seemed she would wake up. Maybe, if the bomb exploded that would force her out?

_The bomb!_

Rose gasped and bolted across the street as the building's glass windows shattered. The blast pushed her hard against the ground and the feel of pavement scratching against her skin sent a sting up her arm and across her braced palms. _Okay, the pain thing is really irritating._ It was almost as if...no, it had to be a dream. Screams pulled her out of her head and she turned on her burned palms to see the fiery remains of Henrik's. How did he survive? She never really questioned it, just that he was the Doctor and he did impossible things. But he had said he could have died. And for a second she wondered if he had wanted to. After all he had just committed what he thought to be double genocide. She shuddered at the reminder of the Daleks. No, the Doctor wouldn't just leave the universe, even with all the sorrow he held. That's why she was supposed to be with him, to remind him of all the good he does, to help shoulder his burden.

Rose smiled sadly. Her eyes traced the fires surrounding Henrik's. Maybe, this time she could find him right away, and dream him would pull her into the universe without needing to ask. 

A ring echoed in her pocket. Her mobile. Who was calling her mobile?

Without looking she flipped the phone open. "Hullo?"

"Rose? Oh, thank God you answered. Its on the news! What happened sweetheart, where are you?" It was her mum. Her voice was shrill with worry and she sounded frantic. Just like last time. Except she was halfway home when her mum called. 

"Mum, I'm fine! I was already walking when it exploded." She could her Jackie sigh in relief. "Um, I'm going to check if anyone is hurt okay? I'll call you later." Rose shut her phone despite the loud protests of her mother. Well, time to see if the Doctor was near. She scooped up the forgotten arm and paced down the alley. 

She was lucky. Not five feet away was the TARDIS in all her beautiful, blue glory. Rose smiled. She must have missed this in her frantic run home.

"Rose Tyler, thought I told you to run home?" He was behind her. Leaning against the alley wall, leather clad arms crossed and a small smirk on his face.

Rose turned to face him, lightly swinging the arm. "Well, I was heading home. Then I saw this." She pointed at the TARDIS with the plastic hand. "Why is there a police call box here? I mean its the twenty-first century."

"That's my ship." He nodded and pushed past her. 

"Ship?" She decided to play along following behind as he unlocked the TARDIS. He didn't say anything, instead he led her inside. Rose was again hit with how beautiful the TARDIS really was. She felt a pang of guilt at her initial anger when she had learned the girl was telepathic. A comforting hum filled her head as though her silent apology was accepted.

_Wait._

Rose froze. And then, all at once Rose realized something. This wasn't a dream. _Was it?_

But the TARDIS responded to her thoughts, and she felt way too real to be a figment of her subconscious. But, that would mean... She couldn't have...

She felt the TARDIS hum, clearer than she had ever heard her. Apparently she could. Apparently, she did. And the Doctor was staring at her. She felt her stomach knot.

"It's ugh...It's bigger in the inside." He nodded, a small smile formed as he twisted knobs she was pretty sure did nothing. "It's alien."

"Yeah."

"Are you alien?" She stammered out. She could see the worry on his face before he answered. She never noticed that before, too caught up in the weirdness of him and his ship. But now, as she looked at him. Real him, real in the flesh Doctor, who was not a dream. _Oh God._ She saw it.

"Yes." He paused. "Is that alright?" Rose scoffed, as if he needed her permission.

"Yeah. It's alright." She smiled hoping to appease some of his worry, and some of her own mounting anxiety. She saw his face relax, and his shoulders fell a bit from there tense position. Quickly, he turned as if embarrassed by her.

"She's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space." He fiddled with her controls as Rose slowly trudge up the stairs and placed her palm on the rotor. 

"She's gorgeous." Rose glanced around the room at the green tinted coral. "Sorta, grungy but beautiful." Her hand against the rotor warmed as she said that. A nod of proud approval from the TARDIS. Rose chuckled softly.

But then another wave of anxiety coursed through her, the image of reapers flooded her head. _Why was she here?_ _What if-_

The TARDIS sent a wave of comfort through her, pushing her to keep talking. Right talk, she could do this. It was just the man she thought she'd never see again. The man, who was actually an alien, that she was super in love with.

 _Right, okay._ "This what aliens do then? Blow up girls' jobs?" She glanced nervously at him, trying for a teasing grin.

The Doctor looked at her hand, still placed on the time rotor, and said,"No, only me I'm afraid." He nodded to her hand. "I'm surprised. She seems to like you."

Rose smiled at that before remembering. If this was what she thought, if she really wasn't dreaming, then she should sound like she's confused. She shouldn't act as if she already knew the TARDIS. She could mess up everything. The ship sadly hummed an affirmation, and Rose willed herself to pull away. "What do you mean she 'likes' me?"

"Well, she's uh-" The Doctor shrugged. "-she's telepathic. She's alive." Rose couldn't say what she did last time. She couldn't insult their girl like that, so she racked her brain for an appropriate response.

"She's _alive?"_ Rose looked around the ship. "Wait, telepathic? Does that mean she can read my mind?" Questioning the TARDIS seemed to be the right thing. Not offensive just confused. The TARDIS chimed in her ear amused by her rationale. She sent back an annoyed shrug still trying to wrap her head around what was going on. She didn't need the TARDIS to mock her while she's already confused.

"Yeah, but she doesn't pry, promise." He was looking between her and the doors. He was afraid she'd bolt. _Was he always like this?_ The TARDIS hummed. Even when she first met him? Like, the first first time? _Oh, that's going to get confusing._

"Okay, this is different." Rose shook herself and swallowed. _It really was._ "So what's this then?" She waved the plastic arm and watched it's fingers twitch. _Weird._

"Ah, that!" The Doctor reached for it, pulling out his screwdriver. "That can help us find the source. Not as good as a head, but it'll do." 

Rose blanked. "Us?" Did he really want her to come, already?

"Yeah, if you want." He turned his back to her. _Always,_ she wanted to say. But he wasn't there yet. Apparently this was their first meeting, at least their first meeting again. And if that wasn't something she needed to worry about. The TARDIS tried to assure her, at least that's what the calm hum sounded like but still. As the Doctor fiddled she looked at the rotor, _Why can't you just tell me whats going on._ The ship hummed. _Later?_ The TARDIS agreed. It seemed like the sooner this adventure was over the sooner she would get answers.

"I'd love to. Jus' need to know what's happenin'" She shrugged, crossing her now empty arms. Watching his back, Rose tried to remember just what had happened. It was pretty easy, this was, after all, when she met him. She could recite his lines back if pressed. Of course, they had changed now, he was saying different things, but that was probably on her. 

"Autons. Living plastic. They're alien, of course, trying to invade." He placed the tip of his sonic against the arm, the high pitched whir hit Rose's ears and sent a shiver down her spine. Despite the human Doctor's best try he could never recreate it. But now the sound also brought a twist to her stomach. The TARDIS wouldn't answer her but she could guess. She was pulled through time somehow, and now...well, she didn't know what.

The Doctor turned excitedly to the arm, now full of wires. _How fast did he do that?_ "Ah, yes! It's not a head but the signal is still there. Hold on!" He flipped the dematerialization lever and sent Rose slipping towards the ground before she realized what he had done. As she braced herself against the grating she felt the thud of the TARDIS landing and watched as the Doctor bounded towards the doors. "Well, we're close. But that's what you get when you use an arm." He tossed the half-melted plastic towards her. The doors opened and he bolted out, leaving her in the dim console room.

Rose sighed and looked at the bright central column. "You gonna tell me what's going on after this? Why I'm back in 2005, apparently?" The ship just hummed and nudged her to leave, the doors still wide open. Rose huffed, blowing her hair out of her eyes and pointed at the ship's console. "Fine, but you promised. You need to explain what the hell is happening." With that she clenched her fists and stomped out of the ship. 

The Doctor was pacing, muttering to himself. 

"Doctor!" Rose rushed towards him. "What's going on."

"Oh, took you're time did you?" She opened her mouth to respond but his hand clamped over her. "Nevermind, the arm traced the signal around here. We're so close." He moved his hand and began looking around once again.

Rose shook herself, trying to remember what she said last time. "We moved. How'd we move?"

"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand." He walked over to the rail and peered over the edge. Rose rolled her eyes, of course, already he was insulting her intelligence. _Rude and not ginger_. He was _testing_ her. But this time, she knew it.

"Try me." She pulled at his arm with a raised eyebrow. 

"You really are a fighter aren't you?" He smiled at her. Once again, Rose felt her face heat up at the compliment. "Again, we need to find the transmitter. Great big thing, hidden in plain sight."

"Plain sight, huh?" She peered over his shoulder, spying the London Eye. "How big?"

"Oh, huge! Has to transmit across London!" He was looking the wrong way again. She pulled at his arm and pointed. "What?"

Rose looked up and sighed. "The London Eye, Doctor..."

"Oh!" He turned to her. "Fantastic!" He snatched her hand and pulled her after him across the Westminster Bridge. 

"So, if you're alien, why do you sound like you're from the North?" She loved this part. His indignation, his protests that humans copied the Time Lords. The human him did the same, even with his singular heart he complained about how difficult and inefficient humans were. 

"Lots of planets have a North!"

"And the Doctor? That's a title, what's you're real name?" She knew, of course, it was both. After Krop Tor, he told her about the Time Lords and Gallifreyans. About how he chose his name, really how he was given it by his first human companions. The human him told her about Ian and Barbara, and his adventures with them and...and Susan. But still, she needed to act like the innocent human, at least until she figured out what was going on.

"It's my name. Just the Doctor." He turned his head to peer down at her and smile. "You humans and you're questions. I mean think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables-" 

"The breast implants." Rose couldn't help the small joke. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind as he continued.

"-and you're here asking about a name." He shook his head. "Well, got anymore questions?"

Rose smirked. "Just one, how do you plan on stopping the shop dummies?"

He pulled a vial of blue liquid from his jacket and shook it in front of her. "Anti-plastic."

"Of course, anti-plastic, obviously. What was I thinking?" The Doctor laughed as she gesticulated in sarcastic agreement. 

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." He glanced around as she walked over to the parapet, glancing down at the manhole. 

"How about there?" She pointed. 

The doctor looked over and grinned. "Sounds good to me." He stuck out his hand and, once she grabbed it, he led her down into the tunnels.

The manhole was just as bad as she remembered. The ladder was partially rusted, and her still scrapped hands pulsed with every step down. The smell was awful. Besides the normal smell of sewage lied an underlying smell of warm plastic. It burned at her nostrils and a small pressure pushed against her head as they pushed down towards the Nestene. The Doctor tugged her behind him as he led her into the warm chamber. The smell only worsened as the two of them spotted the swirling mas that was the Consciousness. Rose looked around, luckily Mickey didn't seem to be here, obviously he wasn't caught waiting for her to speak with Clive. She sighed in relief, one less thing to worry about. 

The Doctor paused. "The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature." He turned to her, placing his hands on her shoulder. "Wait here, I've got to give it a chance."

"With anti-plastic still in your pocket?" Maybe she could help save the Nestene this time. One less murder on the Doctor's mind. "I'll take it. If it attacks, I can just throw it in." 

The Doctor glanced behind him at the vat, then back at Rose. "This is dangerous y'know. What I do. You sure you can handle it?"

Rose pretended to think. She'd faced Daleks, Cybermen and even the Devil himself. Even though he didn't know it yet, she was prepared to do anything to protect him, even live his kind of life. _Their_ kind of life. "Yeah, handled myself pretty well at Henrik's. A vial shouldn't be too hard." She gave him her signature smile and grabbed the vial from his hand. "Now go."

"Rose Tyler...." He stared at her for a moment before turning to the vat and vaulting down. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." 

The vat gurgled and Rose could here the TARDIS translate. She was still captured, but this time she allowed Rose to hear what was being said. The knowledge of the Nestene's reaction to the TARDIS put a pit in Rose's stomach. Hopefully the lack of a weapon on the Doctor would be enough for it to trust him.

 _You may speak..._ The voice sounded low, with a slight twinge to the end of its words, almost as if it were squeaking despite its baritone. Rose shivered at the tone of its voice. It didn't sound peaceful.

"Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?" The Doctor's body swung forward, as if to take a step without moving his feet.

_You may..._

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?"

_You are..._

"Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off? " Rose giggled. She forgot how 'diplomatic' the Doctor was. Even in this body he never feared telling other species off. And the pun itself was pretty great. 

_Why would we do this? What gives you the right? We just came to live freely...as is our right!_ The vat bubbled with its words. Two Autons pushed out of the shadows and reached for the Doctor. Rose ducked down, hoping she wouldn't have to use the vial she clutched against her chest.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The vat gurgled in protest. "I am talking! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go." The Autons grabbed the Doctor just before Rose could shout. "I don't have anything! I just came to talk. To offer you a new home, a home where you wouldn't be invading, promise!"

The Nestene grumbled and then went still. A door slide open, and the TARDIS stood, revealed to the room. The ship hummed in Rose's mind in apology. Rose gripped the vial, there would be no saving the Nestene then. She felt that pressure on her head again. The coppery taste was back.

The Consciousness grew out of its vat angry and red. _Time Lord! You killed our planet! You came to kill us!_ It drowned out the Doctor's protests. Rose clenched her head as the pressure grew painful.

"It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them! " He pulled at the arms holding him. "Rose! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion!" He pulled sharply on one of the Auton's holding him, ripping its arm out. 

Rose stood. She looked down at the vial and back at the Nestene. It was just scared, but she couldn't do anything to calm it down. She closed her eyes and fell into the comfort of the TARDIS' hum pushing against the pressure in her head. "I'm sorry." She launched the vial into the vat and turned away as the Nestene screamed before bursting into bright light. Rose jumped down toward the TARDIS as the Doctor freed himself. He grabbed onto her and flung them both into the ship as the walls began to crumble around them. The Doctor raced to the console and slammed the lever down. Luckily, Rose was quick enough to grab a coral strut before she was flung to the floor. Her headache began to soothe and was replaced by the worried hum of the TARDIS. _It's okay, I'm okay..._ The TARDIS gently faded from her mind into a soft hum surrounding the air. 

"Rose Tyler...you were fantastic!" The Doctor leaned against the console, gazing at her with his shining blue eyes. 

Rose looked up at him, a smile stretched across her face. "You'd be dead if it weren't for me."

"Yeah, I would." He glanced down, shuffling his feet as she walked up the steps. 

"I'm sorry."

"What?" He looked at her, surprise on his face. 

"We couldn't save them. 'm sorry about that." She reached and placed her hand on his arm, squeezing it gently.

"It's alright, we tried." He placed his hand over hers. They looked at each other, neither moving. Rose smiled gently and took a half-step forward. As she did the Doctor shook himself and stepped out of her reach. "So, Rose Tyler where to?"

"Oh, uh home?" She needed to see her mum. Jackie had no idea where she was, and neither did Mickey. Oh, Mickey, she didn't want to see him, not the way he was in 2005. He had become so much more than he was when with her and the reminder of their relationship, and how awful it was for both of them made her halt. Guilt crept back up and settled in her chest, clenching around her heart. She needed to break things off early this time. No stringing him along in case the Doctor left her. Especially if she was allowed the chance to really change things for the better. The TARDIS hummed in agreement. "The Powell Estates. Think you can get us there?" She teased looking back up at him, pushing her thoughts of Mickey aside.

"Sure, sure. Home, lovely." He pushed in the coordinates and grabbed the lever yanking it down a little forcefully. Rose could feel the TARDIS' annoyance at her Time Lord and comfortingly placed a hand against one of the struts as they landed. 

Rose opened the door, and stared out at the familiar street. It felt like forever since she'd been home, back in Pete's world they moved into an actual mansion almost immediately. But the empty halls just made her miss living with her mum, just the two of them, practically living on top of each other. She loved Pete, he was her dad, even if he was an alternate him. But living with just mum for nineteen years, she could never replace that. "Thank you." She patted the TARDIS, a warm pressure brushed against her mind in response. She turned to the Time Lord still in the console room. 

"Rose!" She pivoted. Mickey was standing there, alongside her mum. "There you are!" He ran up to hug her. Rose almost pushed him back as she looked over to see the Doctor clearly listening.

"Mickey, Mum! I was umm..."

"Did you see!" Her mum reached out to grab at her out of Mickey's embrace. "We were going down to Henrik's to find you when a bunch of shop dummies chased us down the street. Then they just stopped! Bunch of students I say! Bet they blew up the shop too! Right buggers." Jackie pulled Rose close. "Oh, I was so worried!"

"Woah! What's this?" Mickey raced around the TARDIS. "It's bigger on the inside!" He peered in the door spotting the Doctor. "Who are you then, mate?"

"Oi, get out of my TARDIS!"

"He's my friend. He, uh, walked me home." Rose pulled herself out of her mum's grasp and grabbed her shoulders. "Mum, I need to speak to Mickey, yeah, why don't you go inside?"

"You sure, sweetie? And whose this friend of yours, huh? Looks a little old," Jackie murmured, turning to look around her shoulder at both men. The Doctor protested lightly as Mickey snickered into his own shoulder.

"Mum, it's fine, just. I might be going on a trip and I need to talk to Mickey, yeah?" Jackie looked at her, a fierce look in her eyes and a protective arm holding Rose in place. Rose stared back, just wondering how her nineteen year old self could ever think of her mother as overbearing. Jackie was everything it meant to be a mum. And Rose began to miss the one she left behind in Pete's World. Hopefully, she didn't just disappear. Hopefully, she was reliving everything and both world's were affected because this time she could make it right, for the Doctor and her mum. Jackie Tyler deserved the world. She squeezed her hands and pushed her mum back to the estate.

"Trip, what trip?" Rose shushed her mum. The Doctor hadn't officially asked her, yet. 

"I'll get Mickey to explain, alright. Jus' listen to him, and I'll call okay?"

"Rose Marion Tyler, really!" Jackie resisted Rose's attempts to move her, stopping suddenly and whipping around to face her. "If you don't tell me..."

"Please, mum!" Jackie huffed and placed her hands on her hips. She shook her head and looked at Rose. Really looked at her. Rose could only hope the desperation in her eyes was enough to move her. She didn't have time. The Doctor could kick Mickey out and leave her there any second now.

"Oh, alright, I get it, you're an adult! But I worry sweetie, now you've no job and you're tellin' me you want to go on a trip! Did you bash yer head?"

"No, mum. I'm fine really. Just go inside," Rose pushed at her mum's shoulder. 

Jackie threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to Rose, sternly pointing. "Fine, fine I'll go, just no running off." Jackie turned and strutted away, murmuring complaints under her breath.

Rose sighed. 

_Right, Mickey._ She turned walking towards the TARDIS meeting Mickey halfway as he stumbled dazedly out of the TARDIS. The Doctor looked at her with an amused smile.

"It's alien. He's alien isn't he?" 

"Yeah, Micks..." She shook her head as Mickey grabbed her around the waist. "Where you off to then?" She asked the Doctor. He leaned against the door sizing Mickey up, his mouth screwed as he took in Mickey's arm around her waist. _Was he jealous?_ The TARDIS hummed a giggle-like tune. Rose had to push down a blush.

"Oh, you know here and there." He patted the TARDIS. "She's not just a London Hopper y'know. Can go anywhere...space and all that. If you, I don't know, want to come." He looked up at her hope shining in his blue depths.

"Rose, don't! He's alien! He's a thing!" Mickey gripped onto her tighter.

"He's not invited." The Doctor's gaze turned dark as he turned to Mickey. A small whimper escaped from him as the Time Lord glared and he shrunk to the ground. _If only Mickey could see the Oncoming Storm..._ On second thought, this Mickey would probably just start running. The Mickey he'd become however, would probably respect the Time Lord enough to back down but stand straight while doing so. Oh, she hoped he could still become that, maybe sooner if she pushed him.

She was tempted to say yes. Of course she was. But the TARDIS nudged her. He needed to ask twice. He had never done that, he told her himself. And she needed to hear that he still wanted her, still liked this slightly new her. The one that was sent through time to save him, and herself, all over again. "I-uh, I can't." She looked down at Mickey. "Got to take care of him, and mum." She looked back up. His eyes were sad.

 _They shouldn't be sad. She was here._ That voice, her voice-

"Okay. See you around. Rose Tyler." He nodded and backed up. The door closed behind him. And a comforting wave came from the TARDIS just as they disappeared. He'd be back, he had to come back. She needed him to come back.

"Mickey, if he comes back I'm going with him." She pried Mickey off of her leg and took a step forward. "Tell Mum I went travelling, that I'm safe. And also," She turned sadly towards him. "I'm breaking up with you."

"What! Rose, you can't-he's...he's brainwashed you. That alien creep he-" Mickey stood reaching towards her.

"Mickey," She placed her hand over his mouth. "I love you, but not like that. No he didn't brainwash me but...I don't think we're good together. And its not because of him." Although he was the one who made her realize it the first time around. "You know why I started dating you, Jimmy broke me and I just wanted normal. But that's not fair to you. You are a wonderful man Mickey Smith, don't go waiting for me." The loud screech of the TARDIS echoed behind her. Her hair blew around the two of them as she kissed Mickey on the cheek and whispered, "I'll see you soon." 

With a thud the TARDIS landed and Rose turned. "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

With a smile Rose ran towards the TARDIS, towards her home. She didn't look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh boy, this turned out longer than I thought. Anyways, thanks for all the comments and kudos on the first chapter, hopefully I continue to earn them.


	3. The End of the World

Rose was in the TARDIS. She was actually in the TARDIS...with the Doctor. He was running around the console, words spewing from his mouth as he introduced her to the TARDIS. "Right then, Rose Tyler, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?" He turned to her hand ready at the console. "Uh..." Rose felt the TARDIS hum in her head. 

"Could I take a kip. It's just y'know worked all day, plus the Autons..." She scratched the back of her head. She really wasn't tired but the TARDIS needed to explain what was going on and soon.

"Yeah, course." He looked up at her, his smile slipping a bit as the adrenaline rush wore off. "Down the hall first door that opens will be your room."

" _My_ room?" Rose was surprised, she only got a room after the whole Slitheen thing, though to be fair she hadn't thought to ask if she could sleep. They just went straight to the next adventure. Then the whole thing with her mum and World War III. By the time they got back to the TARDIS she had collapsed from exhaustion and woke up in her TARDIS room. 

"Bigger on the inside, remember? TARDIS will create a room for you, don't expect anything too fancy though. Even if she likes you," he murmured the last bit, probably expecting her to not hear it as she backed towards the hall. 

It was just like she remembered. Of course it was. The hallways were wide enough for two people to comfortably walk hand in hand, and each door was designed in their own unique way. She passed by the glass paneled library doors, and the open entrance to the kitchen, before stumbling upon a light wooden door at the end of the hall. The TARDIS pushed her forwards and she stepped closer. There was a lightly carved wolf on the door right where her name used to be.

Rose traced a finger lightly over the wolf shaped image. She felt the divots of each piece of fur leading softly into the pulled back neck, its throat exposed as it howled at a small moon carved just above it. At a closer look she could see the light carving of petals forming the shape of the moon.. _A rose..._ The TARDIS hummed proudly at her work. _You did good...thank you._ Rose reached to pat the door frame before slowly turning the knob. Once inside she would know what was going on. She would know how to fix this. She took a deep breath and stepped into her room.

It was different. _Good different..._

The walls were no longer obnoxiously pink like she had wanted when she was nineteen. Now they were a deep, blue. The floor was wooden, a large carpet draped across it from under the bed. Her bed was larger, in fact, the whole room seemed larger. There was room for a walk-in closet and a desk covered in paints and pencils took up one of the corners, an easel propped beside it. Rose walked over slowly. She hadn't had time to paint or draw. Too busy with the dimension cannon. Then with her human Doctor. Once again, she felt a swell of love for the TARDIS, whatever she did to bring her back it was out of love. She felt a tear threaten to slip down her face on the blank paper before her and quickly swiped it away. Glancing around the rest of the room she saw artwork lining her walls. Paintings she'd found in one of the TARDIS' many storage rooms lined the walls. A small bookshelf hung on the wall next to her desk full of her favourite books. On her nightstand stood blank photo frames and a blank album. She laughed at that. When Jack joined them he insisted on taking as many photos as possible, she'd ended up trading photos out of her frames every week, never quite sure which ones she'd loved most. Oh, she missed him. 

The TARDIS hummed. _Right, need to know why I'm here. No reason to dwell on the past, or future...in this case._ Rose sank onto her bed letting the light blue sheets swallow her. 

"Alright girl-"She turned on her side to face the wall. "-what's happenin'? Why am I here?" 

A wave of calm poured from the TARDIS. Then, swiftly, Rose felt an apology push into her mind. Before Rose could ask her vision was pulled away from her room and into the console. 

She looked at herself staring into the TARDIS. _This is the game station, what I did to get him back._ Rose gasped as golden light filled the room, before fading into the young Rose's eyes. She turned, young her that is, to face her. _Oh, that’s gonna be a headache._

 _I am the Bad Wolf._ What?

Bad Wolf...Those words that followed them. Even after the game station. _What is happening?_

 _I send myself to protect my Doctor. Our Doctor._ Bad Wolf turned to her. Her eyes glowed and Rose's body began to feel heavy. As if a weight was pressing down on her, trying to force its way into her skull. She clutched at her head and gasped in pain. 

Falling to the floor she tried to speak. _How? Why does it hurt?_

 _Because we are breaking time. We need him safe, now you know how to keep him safe. Safe from himself..._ The pressure increased, she felt herself burn as she stretched through time. _I send myself through time to rewrite it._ Rose could feel herself split in two. 

_Stop! Stop! What are you doing?_

_Rose._ The pain stopped. The Bad Wolf stood in front of her and placed a cool palm on her forehead. And Rose knew. She was going to rewrite time. She was going to stop Doomsday, and she was going to protect the Doctor. That was why she was here, why she was made. 

Pain flared in her mind again and she screamed. She could feel the TARDIS, she could feel time. A hum steadily grew higher and higher in pitch until it was all she could hear. And then Bad Wolf released her. 

Rose jolted upright. She was shaking, a sweat had broken over her body. She felt too hot and freezing cold at the same time. Tears streamed down her face. She was breaking time. She had become the Bad Wolf and controlled time to give herself another chance, just with the advantage of future knowledge.

"So I'm...I'm reliving my timeline to save the Doctor? And I'm guessing he can't know." She looked up at the ceiling. The TARDIS brushed an affirmation against her, cautious of her throbbing head. She gripped her hair. What happened to him that she needed to save him? "What did we do?"

The TARDIS didn't answer.

After an hour of turning on her new bed, Rose decided she needed an adventure. She needed a distraction. The TARDIS had tried to soothe her worry, but when she attempted to question the TARDIS further she went silent. So, Rose decided to leave the suffocating room and find the Doctor.

Rose padded down the hallway, the soft running boots the TARDIS laid out for her clicked softly on the grated floor. She pulled her jacket tighter, the blue leather a comfort. Once again, she found herself thanking the TARDIS for a change of clothes, nineteen year old Rose was very different than twenty-two year old Rose. Her jeans were tighter and her top fitted comfortably enough for running. Her hair was pulled back, the long tresses would need to be cut when they got back. Her next doctor seemed to approve of the shorter hair she got after Christmas. It also saved her life more often than not. Aliens seemed to like grabbing hair and loose clothes when they tried to kill you.

Strutting into the console, Rose spied the Doctor under the console. "She need to be fixed?" 

The Doctor yelped, a bang echoed out followed by a hiss. "Oh, Rose, kip finished?" He rubbed at his head. Rose giggled at the sight, his own jacket was strewn across the jumpseat, his jumper had its sleeved pulled up. He was cute ruffled. She had to admit, this body was still very attractive to her even if it didn’t have amazing hair. 

"Yeah...you okay?" She reached out to help him up.

"Yeah, of course." He brushed her hands away and stood tugging down his sleeves. "Right then, Rose Tyler, you tell me. Where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. It's your choice. What's it going to be?" He pulled his jacket off the seat and began to fiddle with the console. 

Rose smiled. "Forward."

"How far?" 

"One hundred years." She leaned forward bracing herself against the console.

"There you go. Step outside those doors, it's the twenty second century."

"You're kidding." Rose smirked at his affront. He stepped back from the console. 

"That's a bit boring, though. Do you want to go further?" He flicked a few switches and pulled at the lever. "Ten thousand years in the future. Step outside, it's the year 12005, the new Roman Empire." 

"You think you're so impressive." Oh, she missed teasing him. Especially _this_ him. The pull of his eyebrows. The spark in his eyes. His need to impress her. That last one he also got in his next body, but this one started it.

"I am so impressive!" 

"You wish." She rolled her eyes. He would take it for a challenge, she knew. Then they would go see Platform One. And maybe, if she was meant to change their future...maybe she could save everyone on the platform. Her mind supplied the image of Jabe. She used to be so jealous of the woman, then she sacrificed herself. She didn’t have to this time. 

"Right then, you asked for it. I know exactly where to go. Hold on!" He flicked the lever, once again and sent them spiraling.

Rose turned, once the TARDIS thudded to a halt. The Doctor simply raised an eyebrow and gestured to the door. She smiled and raced out. Even though she'd been here, already seen hundreds of space stations, and ships. The feeling she got when she opened the TARDIS door was the same. The rush of excitement of being somewhere no other human could see. The knowledge that she could spend the day exploring and running, without everyday fears weighing down on her shoulders. A hand in hers, through thick and thin. Most people only fantasized about this kind of life, and it was with a dazzling clarity she realized her luck when she raced down the steps into the gallery to stare at Earth, billions of years in the future.

There it was. Her tiny blue and green planet, restored to the vibrant colours that had faded during the twenty-first century. White wisps of clouds and storms passed slowly over Europe as the light of the expanded sun glinted off the sphere. 

"You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day-"He glanced down at his watch. "-this is the day the Sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world." And with a gesture of his hand a solar flare erupted from the sun grazing the earth in a brilliant light show.

The ship's tannoy informed them of the docking guests as the two stared at the Earth.

"Guests..." Right she was supposed to be new at this. "Do they mean people, like, humans?" Rose winced at her words, she probably sounded pretty narrow-minded. She could only wish she sounded at least marginally better than before. 

"Probably, not humans. Even then, most humans now have mixed with all kinds of species. You lot just can't help yourselves." He nudged her gently. Rose had to turn before he could see the bright flush that spread across her face. Judging by his small chuckle, she wasn't successful. The Doctor shook his head and pulled her out of the room into a corridor.

"So, you gonna ask why there are guests here?" Rose started. Having to ask questions she knew the answers to was gonna get pretty boring really quick. But if she didn't he'd get suspicious. She turned her head to look at him. He didn't seem to think her suspicious for not asking, but his eyebrows were scrunched together. Just weird, then. 

"Oh! I just thought, y'know humans kinda have a thing for the macabre. Maybe aliens did too?" She shook her head, trying to look confused. "I didn't think to ask." She shrugged and the line forming on his forehead smoothed out. 

"Well, you're not far off. The great and the good are gathering to watch the planet burn." He grinned."Fun, wouldn't you say?"

Rose stared. She knew what happened on Gallifrey. He burned his people, this wouldn't be fun for him. _So why was he smiling?_

 _Because he wants her to see._ He wanted her to see her world gone. Like him. The last true human and the last Time Lord. Rose was filled with a pity that swept into her rib cage at the realization. _Oh, Doctor..._ How lonely was he to try this, to show the absolute worst in order to make someone understand. It was selfish, Rose knew, her Time Lord had always been a little selfish when it came to his pain. But knowing what he had been through...She squeezed his hand gently and smiled.

"No one's on Earth, right?"

He looked down at their hands and stopped. "No, Earth's just been preserved. So's the sun actually, it's why it isn't fully expanded yet." He glanced up at her through his eyelashes. A small look crossed his face before it was wiped away into a smile. "Besides, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich. The National Trust kept Earth in all her glory, but now the money's run out. Earth's well past her due date." He gripped her hand and pulled her further down the hall explaining the gravity satellites and pointing them out once they reached the main observation deck.

"So, it’s not really a spaceship-"

"Who the hell are you?" Rose and the Doctor turned. Behind them stood a tall blue man with gold slit eyes. The steward. Rose backed up, he was _alive_ . She could save him this time, actually save him _and_ Jabe. The poor tree woman, burned to death saving their lives, but now Rose could change that. 

"Oh, that's nice, thanks." The Doctor rolled his eyes as he reached into his jacket. 

The steward blubbered, obviously flustered with the two strangers. "But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked. They're on their way any second now." He glanced around nervously. _The poor man,_ Rose thought. He was obviously terrified of things going wrong. If only he knew.

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and pointed to it. "That's me. I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation." He waved the paper in the stewards face. "Look. There, you see? It's fine, you see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler. She's my plus one. Is that all right?" He pulled the paper back, closing the wallet with a snap, and shoving it back into his pocket.

"Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." The steward quickly bowed and raced over to the lectern.

The Doctor leaned over to whisper, "The paper's slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." 

"Psychic paper?" Rose looked at it as he pulled the paper out again to show her. It was blank. That was weird, normally he showed people how it worked. She shrugged, and turned to look at the steward again. "He's blue."

"Yeah."

She smirked. "Why aren't you?"

"Excuse me-"

The steward cleared his throat. "We have in attendance the Doctor and Rose Tyler. Thank you. All staff to their positions.” He clapped his hands together. "Hurry, now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along. And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa." Rose sucked in a breath. Jabe was there, perfectly alive. Rose smiled uneasily at the bark-skinned woman. "There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon."

Jabe and her entourage strutted towards Rose and the Doctor. The woman's hands neatly folded in front of her a warm smile on her face. "The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather." She turned to Lute and Coffa grabbing the pot they passed her. Jabe pressed it into the Doctor's hands, a small smile on her face. Rose frowned, _right, flirty tree woman._

She stepped in, pulling a strand of hair from her head and presenting it to Jabe. "And I give a cutting of myself." She draped her golden locks onto Jabe's hand almost giggling at the woman's disappointed look. Jabe's hand blindly passed the hair behind her as she attempted to smile.

"Ah, yes lovely. If you excuse us." She lightly bowed, her skirts swishing with her movement as they brushed past Rose. 

The Doctor chuckled behind her. "Your hair really?"

"Hey, I saw your look! You didn't have a gift," Rose pouted and glanced around the room. Honestly, she did it because she didn’t want Jabe to get the wrong idea about the Doctor. _He flirted back last time,_ her mind helpfully supplied. She swatted the thought away and turned to the Moxx of Balhoon

The Doctor shrugged at her and turned to greet the Moxx as well. Rose's eyes widened and she quickly took a step behind the Doctor as the guest reared back to spit in his face. Rose had to stifle a laugh behind her hand at the Doctor's face. He clearly didn't want to offend the Moxx but his smile looked a little too wide to be anything but fake. Rose turned to look across the room as the Doctor finished sharing gifts, pulling out his own short hairs in return.

As she scanned the room she was surprised to see the Face of Boe was missing. Last time his tank took up a large corner of the room. _Did he show up late last time?_ Rose cursed her lack of perception, too caught up in the weird aliens and spit to realize what had been happening around her. She got better over the years, noticing the small details, but she was awful on this trip. She practically did nothing but wonder about home and complain about Cassandra. _Oh! Cassandra,_ Rose couldn't muster the same hate she felt when she first met the trampoline. After her death all Rose could feel was pity. The poor woman who died in her own arms, fitting for her, but sad all the same.

"And now, our sponsor for the evening!" The stewards voice cut over the slowly built chatter. "Please welcome, from the Bad Wolf fund-" Rose paused, _Bad Wolf,_ again. She knew the Face of Boe wasn't from any Bad Wolf trust. Did something change? The room burst into applause pulling Rose out of her thoughts. She looked around for the Face of Boe's tank, instead she found a woman with curly red hair piled on top of her head standing quietly in the corner staring at her. Rose started, the woman winked and turned to Jabe.

"And last but not least, our very special guest." The steward continued. "Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multi-forms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen." Rose watched as Cassandra, flat skin and all, rolled into the room blinking demurely as everyone stared and slowly clapped.

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference." Her voice rang shrill in the air. Rose stared at the woman. It wasn't hard to look disgusted and confused at the skin. The Doctor moved beside her and grinned at her face. Cassandra glanced around the room at her captivated audience. "Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me. Moisturize me" Her attendant turned and sprayed water across her flab.

"She's just skin." Rose pulled her arms tightly around her. Her stomach felt sick looking at her. The stretch of Cassandra's skin, the eyes and mouth that bulged out, it was horrifying. Even though she felt pity for the woman she couldn't pretend the sight of her was pleasing to any degree.

"Oh, yes. The things you humans do." The Doctor raised his arm to press against her back.

Cassandra continued her rant. She still brought the 'ostrich egg' and the jukebox. Rose stared at the egg, maybe if she just broke it Cassandra wouldn't finish her plan. The TARDIS hummed in her head. _Right, why would she smash a random egg. That'd be too suspicious._ Rose sighed, foreknowledge was annoying. She rubbed at her forehead. What did she do last time again?

Before she could even attempt to remember, the strange woman with red hair walked up to her and the Doctor. "I'm sorry don't think I've caught your names?" Her voice was polite but the look she threw to Rose suggested she was only asking for their benefit.

"Oh, I'm the Doctor! This is my plus one, Rose." He moved his free hand out to shake hers. Rose just smiled, something was wrong about the woman. She didn’t like the way the woman was looking at them, like she knew them and was reading lines from a script.

"I'm professor Tyler. You know, one of my ancestors was named Rose." The woman smiled at Rose.

“Huh, what a coincidence.” The Doctor nudged Rose and sent a knowing look to her. Rose smiled at the woman uneasily. The professor simply tilted her head towards the corner and quietly excused herself in response. Rose frowned, the woman knew her, she was sure. But how? And why was she here? She obviously wanted to speak to her alone.

“Do you think…?” Rose paused. There was no way that woman was actually one of her descendants. Not if she knew her. 

“Possibly, who knows where you end up Rose _Tyler_.” He stressed her last name. Rose rolled her eyes and turned to watch the woman walk away

"Doctor?" Jabe stood behind them, a strange camera like object in her hand. Rose, still curious about the professor, took her chance and slinked off to the corner. Professor Tyler turned to her, a small smile across her face, as Rose sidled up beside her. "Oh Rose, I'm so glad to see you two again." Her smile widened as she pulled Rose into a tight hug.

"Do I know you?" The woman was still pressed to her, a sweet floral scent pressed into Rose nose. Her brow furrowed at the woman's touch. It was weird, something pressed against her mind, and the hug felt less awkward and more...uncomfortable?

"Oh, right. You're still young." The professor released her. "This is your first trip right?" She smiled wildly, an excited glow passed into her eyes. 

"Yeah..." Rose stared at the woman, or girl? Her slight bounce of excitement betrayed the older, composed expression she held earlier. "Who are you?"

"Oh, someone you won't meet again for a while." She leaned close to Rose. "But, I know what's happening to you. Don't worry your gonna fix things. Now, I think you need to run off. I’ll explain why I’m here later" She pushed at Rose and turned her into the corridor. "Now, go! You need to get your phone fixed." With that the professor winked and ran back into the room.

Rose paused. _Well, that was weird..._ But all the same, a relief flooded into her body. Whoever this professor was she knew what Rose was doing, and her being here was proof that she did change things. Hopefully, for the better.

Rose shook her head and headed down the hall. She peered into a large empty room with a familiar window covering the far wall. Right, this is where she and the Doctor talked. When she first realized where she really was, and who she was with. Rose paced by the window staring at the planet below. It looked so tiny. Even before whatever happened to bring her back she thought of Earth as small. When the Doctor whisked her away she thought she knew enough about the world to survive in it. But when she first stared down at the planet, minutes from its death, she realized how little she knew. Then she met aliens, actual aliens with blue skin and leaves for hair. And Rose knew nothing. But the Doctor did. She thought he knew everything. Sure, nineteen year old her saved him on their first adventure, but he knew what the Nestene were, he knew the Shadow Proclamation and what year the Earth was set to explode. He was brilliant. And she first fell for him then. Billions of years in the future, miles away from the Earth, she stared at the Doctor who gave her a phone that could call across time, and she fell. 

"Rose, you there?" Rose's breath stuttered. She turned to see the Doctor, concern written clearly on his face. He still thought she wanted to run off.

She shook her head and gave him a smile before turning back to the view. She felt, rather than saw him move beside her. They stood, silent, for a moment. Rose could hear his slow breaths, each pulled deep into his lungs, held, then released evenly at exact intervals. Rose let out a loose sigh. It was relaxing. She allowed herself to be pulled out of her thoughts to simply listen.

"Blimey, is that what I look like!" Rose jumped. The Doctor was peering at his reflection in the glass, pulling at his ears. "Bit large."

She sucked in a breath. Her eyes widened. He didn't know what he looked like. Oh. She was right. This was immediately after the time war. He was newly regenerated. _But that would mean..._ The Doctor would regenerate again in a year. He would blow through this body in seconds compared to his lifespan. A memory tugged at her, a sick feeling dropped into her stomach. _This was because of her._ Rose knew it. She didn't know why he would regenerate, but it was her fault. The TARDIS tried to chime into her head, a soothing hum attempted to settle her stomach but she shook it off. _She did this..._

"Rose, are you alright?" She turned, the Doctor stared at her. His eyebrows furrowed. Rose took a shuddering breath.

"Yeah, yeah." She shook her head and backed up onto the stairs. "Just alien y'know? I mean why don't you know what you look like?" She hoped he would say he never looked in a mirror. Maybe he just never had the time. Maybe she was overthinking this. She slumped down on the stairs. Her body felt too heavy all of a sudden.

Instead of calming her worries, the Doctor moved to sit beside her. "No reason." He shrugged. "So what do you think about this?" He gestured at the Earth. Trying to change the topic. _Good,_ she thought a little selfishly, she needed to not think about his regeneration.

Rose leaned back and stared at the ceiling, thinking. "It's...small."

"Small?"

"Yeah, I mean, humans in my time spend all day worrying about taxes and the next fashion trend. They worry about what's happening next, what's the next disaster? Why is the sugar industry killing us? But, its like you said." She turned to face him, leaning on her elbows. "We survive. But no one realizes how small Earth is. How small its problems are until you see it, see all these aliens with different problems and different planets." She shrugged. "Kinda, gives me hope."

"Hope? Your about to watch the Earth die and you get hopeful?" He stared at her incredulously.

"Yeah. I mean we're here. Earth moved on, maybe we do to. Maybe humans learn to move on from the small things, think of the bigger picture." Rose blushed. It was true, she'd heard the Doctor talk about the human colonies, the great things humans would do in the future. And she did feel hope, but for their future too. Maybe, she could do this. First she'd save the steward and Jabe. Then she'd save everyone else. No problem. Her stomach lurched. The professor had to be right she was there instead of Boe, but regardless of that small change, Rose still felt anxiety over the task in front of her. How was one human supposed to rewrite time? 

Rose looked back to the Doctor, hoping he didn't catch her nervousness. 

He was staring at her.

"What?"

"Nothing." He looked at his hands, then back towards the doomed planet. "Just, most people, Rose Tyler-" He looked at her pointedly. "-most people would look at their planet's destruction and think, 'This is it, the end of us'. Everything you know gone. " He looked down. She could see in his eyes the haunted look of the time war reflected back at her. "But you...you look down at Earth and make a speech about hope." He chuckled. "You continue to surprise me, Rose Tyler."

Rose swallowed. "Is that a good thing?"

"Oh, it’s fantastic." His eyes crinkled, the war gone and replaced by a smile. Rose smiled back and reached to pull out her mobile. Professor Tyler was right, she needed to get her phone fixed.

"Speaking of 'everything I know' I promised Mum I'd call, don't suppose there's a signal?" She let out a small laugh.

"No, but tell you what." He held out his hand. Rose gently placed her phone into his palm as he pulled out the sonic. "With a little jiggery pokery." The sonic buzzed, its blue glow brightening the Doctor's face.

"Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?" Rose pulled her tongue between her teeth, laughing at the familiar banter.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?" 

"No, I failed hullabaloo." 

"Oh. There you go." The Doctor tossed her the phone. Quickly Rose flipped it open and dialed her mum.

She prayed that Mickey had told her mum where she went. She really didn't want a repeat of last time, her mum almost screamed her head off when they’d showed up a year late. 

"Rose?" Her mum didn't sound worried. But Rose’s sigh of relief was short lived. Last time, when she called, her mum had talked about clothes hardly acknowledging Rose had been gone. She’d learned later her phone connected too early, about six months too early.

"Hey, mum."

"I told you not to run off, what did you do?" Jackie paused, clearly expecting an answer. Okay, this time she did connect at the right time. Rose sent a silent thank you to the TARDIS before responding.

"I ran-"

"You ran off! You're lucky Mickey told me about that friend of yours. I would have called the police, but Mickey said no! Can you believe it, he raised his voice at me too, then he ran off!" Jackie paused to take a breath. "Where are you sweetie? What are you doing?"

"I'm uh...working?" She turned to the Doctor, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "My friends a doctor, he helps people."

"A doctor? How'd you meet a doctor?"

Rose paused. "Shireen?"

"Oh that girl, still chasing boys? I told her mum to watch her, I did!" 

"Mum, relax. I gotta go okay, I'll call soon."

"Wait! How long-" Rose flipped her phone shut and sighed hanging her head.

"She's seems like a piece of work."

"Oi! She's my mum," Rose puffed. Then, with a deflated sigh, "But yeah, she is." The Doctor laughed. "That was five billion years ago." She turned to him. She didn't have to fake amazement. It was amazing, calling someone billions of years in the past. 

"Think that's amazing, you wait to see the bill." He laughed.

Then the building shook.

"That's not supposed to happen." Rose paused. In her confusion and anxious musings she’d forgotten about the steward. Rose stood and bolted out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I apparently am incapable of writing less than 5000 words per chapter. Whoops :) Also, any guesses on who Professor Tyler is?


	4. The End of the World: Earth Death Imminent

Rose raced down the halls. Her feet pounded against the ground in time to her heart. She heard the Doctor call after her. She couldn’t answer. How could she tell him she messed up? How could she tell him the steward was dying as they talked? Her head was spinning, a small pain bloomed across her forehead. _She messed up, she messed up..._ Her breaths staggered, each gulp of air filled a painful stretch of her lungs. The computer blared overhead, reminding her of the sun filter. She pumped her legs faster. Her boots clicked steadily against the floor with each leaping step. Heat was creeping down the hall from the steward’s office. She was going to be too late.

With a jolt Rose felt herself pulled back by her arm. The Doctor’s cool hand clenched tightly around her, yanking her to face him. "What are you doing?" His eyes pulled hers up, a question in their blue depths.

"I-" Rose blanked. She didn't know how to answer that. "We need to check that everyone's safe, don't we?" She slipped her arm out of his grasp and turned halfway down the hall. Her heart was pumping, she looked back to where the steward's office was. 

"Sure we do, but why are you running this way?"

Rose paused. She could tell him a lie, that she'd been lost in the frantic run, but he would just pull her back to the gallery. If she told the truth, he would question how she knew where the steward was. "I-I don't know." Rose winced. She glanced over her shoulder down the hall. Even from here she could feel the heat of the sun slowly creeping into the station. Cassandra had already deactivated the sun filter. "Doctor-something’s-"

"Doctor, Rose!"The professor came running down the hall, a blue man pulled behind her. It was the steward. Rose exhaled a long sigh of relief. "Someone deactivated the sun filter. They tried to kill the steward." Professor Tyler skidded to a halt beside them. The steward crashed into her, a sweat broken over his pale blue face. Rose felt a wave of relief coursed through her body, her heart stuttered. He was okay. The professor sent her a quick knowing smile.

"What?" The Doctor turned, hand placed mid-air, hovering over Rose's arm. 

"That wasn't a gravity pocket." The professor heaved in a breath. She placed her hands against her knees.

"No, I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." The Doctor paused, his eyebrows furrowed. "The engines...they've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?" He looked to the three of them as if he expected them to hear the engines themselves. Rose shook her head started at the professor's face. The woman had a pensive look, her head tilted to the side. _She was listening..._ That was odd. She could've sworn the woman was human, but maybe not. _Just another mystery to solve._

"That is odd." The professor tilted her head straight and looked between them. "Maybe, we should check out the engine room." She turned to the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled, clearly pleased with her initiative. "Fantastic. Steward, I suggest getting your staff together, make sure the guests are all right. Rose, Professor let's go find the engine room." The Doctor turned down the hall.

"But-but..." The steward spluttered. Rose placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll fix this, promise." She smiled and gently pushed him down to the galley. 

Professor Tyler wrapped her arm around Rose's leading her after the Doctor. "So, got your super-phone?" She whispered. 

"Yes," Rose answered, tilting her head to study the woman. "Why is that important?" 

The professor stopped. "Here give it to me."

"Why?"

"Just do it." She shook her head, snatching Rose's phone as soon as she pulled it out. Quickly, the woman flipped her phone open, a small look of annoyance crossed her face, and she typed quickly into it. "Here." She tossed it back and turned to continue after the Doctor. “Now you can call me.”

Rose looked down. A new number was saved to her phone, under the Professor. _Huh._

"Rose!" She glanced up, the Doctor stood at the end of the hall, waiting.

"Coming!" She slipped her phone back into her pocket.

The maintenance hall was a tight fit with three people. Rose's shoulder pressed into the Doctor at an uncomfortable angle as she moved to avoid a mess of pipes and wires. "Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a Captain or what?" The Doctor tried to turn to the Professor, accidentally shoving Rose with his turn. 

"Oi!"

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly.

The Professor watched the exchange with a laugh. "There's just the steward and the staff. Everything else is computer based."

"But who controls that?" 

"The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another." The Professor shrugged.

"And that's you?" Rose pried. 

The Professor laughed and shook her head. "No, my family just sent me to watch. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong." 

_Family? Not corporation._ Rose filed that thought away.

"Unsinkable?" Rose rolled her eyes at the reference.

"If you like." The Professor supplied looking to Rose. Her face puffed out and she turned holding back a laugh. Rose smirked.

The Doctor continued, oblivious to the two women’s silent exchange. "You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg." Both women did laugh at that. Rose placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh as the Doctor turned questioningly. The Professor seemed to compose herself faster, a smile the only remnant of her amusement. "It wasn't half cold," he continued, throwing Rose a raised eyebrow. She shook her head. He wouldn’t understand how odd he sounded when he said things like that. 

The Doctor paused. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

Rose sobered at that. She may have known how things turned out last time, but that didn't mean nothing could go wrong. The Professor placed a hand on Rose's shoulder and a calm presence pressed against Rose's mind. Rose almost jumped in surprise. The calm obviously came from the woman, but she felt familiar, almost like the TARDIS felt. _She’s telepathic too._

Professor raised a warning eyebrow at Rose. "I'm afraid not." She squeezed Rose's shoulder and let her go. Her warm presence faded from Rose’s mind, leaving an empty space behind. Rose shivered at the feeling. It felt lonely, like how it felt when she was stuck a universe away from the TARDIS.

"Ah, here we are!" The Doctor pulled out his sonic. A wide metal door stood before them. 'Engine Room' labelled clearly in large bold letters splayed across the top of the door, far above Rose's head. The sonic buzzed, cutting the silence, and the lock clicked. "Well, ladies, welcome to the engine room." He pulled the door open and a large burst of cool air blew at them whipping at Rose's hair and clothes. "Bit nippy in here..." Down the walkway, the three of them watched as large fans circled, their blades barely scraping along the floor. "Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro." 

The Doctor turned, leading them to a panel. Quickly be scanned it, jumping back as a metal spider bleed out from the wiring. Quickly Rose snatched it before it could scuttle off. Its metal claws scraped at her arms. The Doctor spun to her, quickly pointing his sonic at the spider-droid before it could claw her eyes out. The metal sparked under the sonic’s light and the legs curled up as if it were a real spider.

"What is _that_?" The Professor backed away, stepping just barely behind Rose and peering over her shoulder at the deactivated bot.

"Sabotage." The Doctor and Rose said, simultaneously. He flashed her a quick grin then looked around the wide room. 

_"Sun filter rising. Earth Death in ten minutes."_

“Oh no,” Rose gasped.

"And the temperature's about to rocket." The Doctor raced to the platform. "Come on!"

The Professor paused. "Their raising the sun filter." She looked to Rose in horror. "They’re going to burn us."

The Doctor turned. Rose could feel the panic in the room rise. She didn't know how this ended. She was stuck last time, almost burned herself. 

"We need to drop the temperature and get the shields stabilized." He turned to Rose. A wild look passed through his eyes. He didn't mean for this to happen, she knew that. But he was still blaming himself. “Someone needs to reset the engine to pump out the heat.”

"I'll deal with the shields." The Professor looked between them. "I'm pretty good with computers." She shrugged and palmed something vaguely cylindrical in her pocket. "You guys figure out the reset switch here." 

"Are you sure?" Rose didn't know her, at least not yet. But she couldn't risk another person dying, the steward was close enough.

"Oh, Rose..." The woman pulled her into a hug. "I'll be fine, you wouldn't let me die." She pulled back from her, sent a knowing wink and turned to run back towards the steward's office.

Rose stared after her. She felt her heart pulse in her ears. A cool hand gripped hers. She turned to see the Doctor, a reassuring smile on his face. "She'll be fine. Reminds me a bit of you, actually." He tugged her along to the walkway. 

" _Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising. Exoglass has been compromised."_ The computer chimed. 

"Oh. And guess where the reset switch is." The Doctor sighed squeezing her hand. Rose looked, and her stomach dropped. The switch was on the other side of the walkway, the walkway with giant spinning blades. Rose deflated, _of course,_ it was never easy. 

The Doctor let go of her scanning the room, and jogging over to a large lever. He pulled at it. Slowly, the blades came to a rusting halt, strained screeches pulsed through the warm air. Within seconds, Rose could feel heat permeate the now still air. 

Even if the Professor was capable of lowering the sun filter enough heat had been trapped inside the station to reach dangerous levels. Rose could already feel her palms become slick with perspiration. They would definitely need to filter the heat out.

_“Exoglass has been compromised. External temperature reaching five thousand degrees.”_

Rose looked to the Doctor, he was thinking. The strain of holding the lever popped out a vein on his forehead. He let go of the lever, watching as the fans began to speed back up until they became a blur. Rose pulled off her jacket and reached for the lever. She would need to hold it down while he ran. "Go." She strained, her arms bulged with the effort of pulling the rusted metal down. The blades slowed. Not a complete stop, but there was only so much strain human arms could take.

The Doctor stared at her. "The heat's gonna vent through here. That metals gonna heat up real quick." He reached for her.

Rose shook her head and pushed him back. The momentary pause let the blades speed up again and she quickly returned her hands to pull the lever down again. "I've got this, we don't know if the breaker will work first go. You have your sonic." She nodded to the device set loose in his grip. "I can handle a little heat. Besides, if we don’t vent the heat now, then it won’t matter if the sun filter is fixed." Rose pulled at the lever, squeezing her hands in an attempt to combat her sweaty palms."Plus, you're faster than me. Just go!" Her arms were shaking with effort. 

The Doctor paused, then shook his head and raced across the walkway. Rose watched as sweat began to drip down her forehead, her palms were beginning to grow slick. The Doctor ducked under the second fan, it barely missed by an inch and Rose struggled to slow the fans further. He was right, the metal was heating up and she felt her palms heat. She could smell burning flesh and looked down to see her palms were melting into the lever. She stared. The pain took a moment, her shock at the sight holding it back. She released a small yelp as her brain caught up with the pain. The Doctor turned to her, already halfway down the platform.

"I'm fine! Just go!" The pain was unbearable, her hands slipped and the blades sped up. 

" _Heat levels critical. Sun filter descending."_ Rose sighed in relief. If the heat didn’t kill her than they’d survive. The Professor did it.

Rose panted in exertion. The smell of her flesh, pulled at her stomach and bile rose into her throat. She just needed to hold on a little longer. The Doctor was almost there, her arms slipped again. He was running, trying to beat the fans. Rose struggled, falling to a knee and pressed her body against the burning lever. Her shirt pushed into her chest, a single barrier protecting her against the heat. Her head felt heavy, the heat pressed into her skull. 

_"Exoglass repair."_

Rose felt herself collapse. The cold floor pressed against her burning skin and Rose felt herself sink into its embrace. 

"Rose!" Cool hands pressed against her forehead, drawing her away from the sweet relief of the tiled floor.. She could hear the whir of fan blades in the distance as they picked up pace and waved chilled air across her body. "Hey, you're alright. Stay with me." A light tap on her cheek.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose"

She smiled. "We did it..." He pulled her up against him. She pressed her burning cheek into him, the cool leather a poor substitute to the floor. She really just wanted to lie down again..

"Yeah, we did." His hands clenched around her pulling her up into a sit. "We need to find out who did this." His eyebrows furrowed, lines wrinkling his forehead. Rose reached out to smooth them. She watched the hardness in his eyes soften, the storm fading as she pulled her hand back."First, we gotta get you to the TARDIS." He moved to lift her and Rose started.

"No!" She needed to be there, to stop Cassandra.

"No?"

Rose nodded. "No...I-" She paused. "I know who it is." She stood leaning against the Doctor. “I know who did this.” 

He gripped her waist, steadying her just before she stumbled. "Alright. We'll deal with that first, then back to the TARDIS with you." He pulled her out of the room, leaning to scoop up her discarded jacket. 

The two stumbled down the hall, maintenance wires and tubes stuck out, poking into Rose's side. A steady calm hum flooded her mind. The TARDIS pushed softly into her mind. A reminder that the pain was worth it, Jabe was alive this time, and so was the steward. Rose sighed and clutched at the Doctor with her scorched hands, a small pain flaring in response. 

_"Three minutes to Earth death."_ Her breath stuttered as she turned to the window. Earth floated serenely, unaware of the danger the station was held under.

Maybe, she could watch this time. Something beautiful to end this trip. The end of Earth and the start of her new, yet old, adventure. _Poetic,_ she thought. 

The Doctor lead her into the observation deck. They stopped at the scene in front of them. 

The Professor stood in the middle of the room, the guests turned to her, as she continued a long speech.

"-teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed...." She turned to the ostrich egg and paused spotting Rose held by the Doctor behind her. "What happened..." She stared at Rose's hands and face, the burned flesh red against her pale skin.

Rose shrugged. "Fixed the...what was it called."

"Exoglass," the Doctor supplied. 

"Right," Rose nodded. "That thing."

"What's happening here?" The Doctor shifted, pulling Rose closer to his side. Rose turned to the guests noting Cassandra was gone. _Teleported again._

"It was Cassandra, she teleported out. However," the Professor turned to the fake egg and slammed her hand down. "Teleportation field can be reversed." She moved to pull something out of her pocket but paused. She turned her back to Rose and the Doctor, and a light buzz filled the air as Cassandra popped back onto the ship.

"-Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces." Cassandra turned her eyes to the room. "Oh." She cleared her throat. "So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club!"

The Doctor growled and stepped forward before remembering Rose and pulling back to steady her. "The last human..." A look of disgust crossed his face. “You tried to kill everyone person here.”

Cassandra simply trilled in response, “It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter.” Cassandra fluttered her eyes, and Rose was reminded why she hated the woman. 

“And creak?” practically squirmed in her flab, pulling at her drying skin. 

"What? Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" The woman’s eyes frantically searched the room, landing back on the Doctor and Rose.

“Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I'm sorry. I'll do anything.” Cassandra’s stretched skin squirmed in its frame. Rose could see fear in the woman’s eyes, just like the last time Rose had seen her, when she had died for good. 

Rose turned in the Doctor’s arms. “Help her.” 

“Everything has its time and everything dies.” 

_No._ No one had died this time, so why was he still refusing to help her? Rose looked into his eyes. They were hard set and determined, the Oncoming Storm was there swirling in blue depths waiting for Cassandra to explode. She couldn't let him do this to himself.

Rose pushed at the Doctor and grabbed a pitcher of water, splashing it on the skin woman. She leaned in close to the trampoline. "I'm sorry Cassandra, I'm sorry you don't think you're beautiful enough. But you almost killed people today." She looked into the woman's frightened, bulging eyes. "You get to live with the consequences." She backed away not looking at the surprised expression on the wet skin’s face. Rose slammed the pitcher down and turned raising her eyes to the Doctor. He stood there, shocked. She shook her head and brushed past him. She couldn’t believe he just stood there.

Rose sat in the empty galley staring at the remains of the Earth. She missed it again. She was halfway to the TARDIS when she felt the station shake. Rose stared at her hands, the burns looked bad, her skin was red and bleeding and they shook from the damaged nerves. She'd understood the last time. Cassandra let people die, she wanted to kill them so she would get enough money for her surgeries, she just wanted to feel beautiful. It was sad, and awful but this time she didn't succeed. This time, the Doctor still did nothing. He watched her creak with those dark eyes. And he did nothing.

Rose sighed and pulled her head back. She'd done it, she'd saved people, with the help of the Professor. But why did she still feel awful? She reached to push a strand of hair back before remembering her damaged palms.

A presence sidled up behind her. 

“I’d rather not speak to you after that.” 

“I wouldn’t want to speak to him either.” Rose turned, stunned to see the Professor behind her. The curly haired woman smiled and leaned to sit beside her. “For what it’s worth, he did it for you.”

Rose sent her a questioning glance. 

The Professor smiled and leaned back on her elbows looking out to the asteroids swirling around the station. “You got hurt.” She gestured to Rose’s hands. “He may not know it yet, but he cares for you. _Very deeply.”_ She raised her eyebrows suggestively. Rose turned her head away. The Professor snickered.

“But still-” Rose shook her head and looked at her hands. “I forgot how _dark_ he could be.”

“He’s good at hiding it.”

Rose sighed and tilted her head back. “He was going to just let her die.”

“Yeah, he was,” the Professor answered. “But if it were him that was hurt, wouldn’t you do the same?” 

Rose faltered. _Would she do the same._ When he was trapped by the Isolus she was furious, but it was just a child. _But what if it hadn’t been._ She loved him, she wanted him safe... _her Doctor._ “I-” 

“You’re not a bad person, Rose. But that’s why you need each other. You need to pull each other back.” The Professor placed an arm around her shoulders. “You protect those you love, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” She stood and turned over her shoulder. “After all that’s what wolves do.” Rose’s head whipped towards her. The woman sent a wink and flounced out of the room leaving Rose gaping after her.

As Rose stood to follow the strange woman, a million questions racing through her mind, the Doctor entered the room. Slow footsteps clicked against the floor as the Doctor moved to stand cautiously beside her. 

Rose turned at the sight of him, her mind turning over itself. She was mad, furious at him, but the Professor's words echoed in her head and suddenly she didn't have the energy to deal with him. Her knees shook and she fell, sinking into the stairs. The Doctor slowly sat beside her, half turned to her.

"Here," he held out his hand pointedly looking at hers. Rose looked into his eyes. The darkness was gone, replaced by a placating look. She gently placed her palms against his. He pulled out the screwdriver and passed it lightly over her burns. "Could've been worse y'know." The buzz of the sonic tingled her palms. The feel of her skin stitching back together was a slight discomfort but the cool, steady hands that enveloped hers soothed the itch. "What you did...for Cassandra-"

Rose pulled back. "Why didn't you-" He reached for her hands again and clenched them in his. "Why'd you just watch?"

"She hurt you." He stared at her hands.

Rose stared. The Professor was right, he was trying to protect her. "I chose to get hurt, she didn't force me." She pulled her hands back. It wasn’t fair of him to place that on her. If she got hurt then she got hurt, that wasn’t Cassandra’s fault, at least not completely.

The Doctor’s face contorted. He stood abruptly, and moved in front of her leaning into her space. "She could have killed you. She wanted to kill everyone!" 

"So did the Nestene!" Rose stood, pushing him back.

He paused and stared, leaning out of her space as she glared up at him. "Everyone should get a chance. Right Doctor?" 

His eyes were drawn wide at her anger. He was breathing deeply, slowly, a controlled fury rolled of him in waves. Then he turned, drawing up his shoulders and look out at the remains of Earth. 

"Doctor?" He hung his head. A fist clenched to his side, squeezing the sonic tightly to his palm.

"You're right. I just..." He turned to her. "The Nestene was different."

"How?" Rose placed her hand on his arm, gripping the leather. His muscles tensed under her. "Why is this different?"

“It just is…” He shrugged her arm off, pulling away from her touch and her.

Rose turned pulling her arms around herself in a half hug. It was so much easier when she didn’t know about his pain; what he did to his planet. Back when she thought he was infallible, that killing Cassandra _was_ justice. But now, all she could see was selfish anger in him. His need to be right, to dole out justice by himself. Judge, jury and executioner. Rose turned away in disappointment and paced towards the door.

"How'd you know it was her?" He whispered in the silence.

Rose stopped.

"You said you knew who it was, how'd you guess Cassandra?" The Doctor continued, his body turned towards her retreating form.

Rose's mind paused, and her anger slowly dissipated into a cold fear that sent a shiver down her spine and into her stomach. She felt the TARDIS' hum against her mind. Swallowing she answered in a shaking voice, "Professor Tyler. She told me something was off about Cassandra when I went to talk to her." She felt the TARDIS roll her eyes, or whatever equivalent she had as a sentient machine. _I'm trying my best, you try lying to a Time Lord while furious at him._ Even still, she winced at her excuse.

"And the steward?" He stalked towards her back, she could feel his eyes watching her shoulders tense. "Rose-" His hand stretched out to her, she turned from his grasp and stared squarely at him.

"I saw him leave after me, when I went to sit alone before you supercharged my phone." She shrugged. "We talked a bit and I was worried he was hurt when the station shook. Why do you care?"

"Rose, you-"He stopped, his brows furrowed and Rose could feel his eyes pierce into her. 

Rose crossed her arms and glanced at the door. She sighed."Okay, Shareen always said don't argue with the designated driver. I'll be better next time, tell you what I know."

"Next time?"

"Well, yeah, I thought-" Did he not want her to come? "I thought-you wanted me to stick around a bit?"

The Doctor's eyes softened. "Well, yeah. You were brilliant Rose." He pulled her hand to his chest, looking at the fresh pink skin. "Absolutely fantastic." Rose smiled at his slight grin. He was still worried, questioning her story, but at least he didn't want her to leave. "Just, no running off without me knowing where you're going."

"Tell you what,” Rose bumped his shoulder. He needed to be distracted and she wanted to relax. “-take me to get some chips." 

"Chips?" His eyebrows turned down in confusion.

"Yeah, you can pay." She poked her tongue between her teeth and pulled him towards the TARDIS. “Make-up for missing Earth’s death date and my poor hands.” She waggled her free hand in his face.

"Don't got money, me." He let himself be led back out of the room. 

"What kinda date are you?’ She giggled, pushing all thoughts except chips and the Doctor to the back of her mind. “Come on then, tightwad, chips are on me. We've only got five billion years till the shops close." He laughed and pulled the doors behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. This is all I have prepared, I'll probably move to a weekly schedule from now on. Thank you to everyone who commented and sent kudos, it really means a lot and keeps me writing!


	5. The Unquiet Dead: Quiet as the Grave

Rose stared down at the basket in front of her. Although she knew the crisp, golden chips were just that, chips, she stared at them like they held all the answers to the universe. She was coming down from her high, and the weight of what was happening crashed into her. The conversation with Bad Wolf, the Professor, even the TARDIS; none of it made sense. She was sent to 'save' the Doctor, but from what? Why her, the Professor said they needed each other, but he existed hundreds of years before her just fine. Not to mention he would be furious if he ever found out what she was doing, and then...Rose felt her heart clench. He would be so angry with her. She was breaking the rules, not by choice, but still she was lying to him about it. All because the TARDIS told her to. But, would he accept that? What if she messed up, she knew what the Professor said, but there was no guarantee that everything would work out just fine. 

Rose picked at the chips. She felt the past day weighing down on her. Was it right to save Cassandra? And did the Doctor...would he still fall in love with her, would he still be her best mate? She threw down the chip. It was selfish to worry about that, but she did. She loved him so much. She wanted to relive her time with him, she did, to make things right, but she was terrified. Her fear wasn't about messing up time, even though a part of her knew it should be. She was afraid of him, afraid that because she wasn't her nineteen year old self he wouldn't feel the same. Maybe he wouldn't love her, maybe she would just be another companion. A long time ago, when she wasn't sure if he loved her she could handle it. The adventure was enough. But now that she knew he did, at least that the human Doctor did...She wouldn't be able to bear him sending her away. And the thought of the Game Station, what he would do, what she would have to do, it killed her. 

She had saved Jabe, and the steward, and Cassandra, so maybe he wouldn't send her away. But then Bad Wolf wouldn't be created, and the Daleks would kill them. 

Rose dropped her head to the table. She needed time, ironically enough, to make a plan. To figure everything out. She felt the TARDIS wrap around her mind...

And then she froze. _That wasn't the TARDIS._ Something else was in her mind, it lightly tapped against her head, slowly swirling. The presence created a small but warm pressure, and Rose glanced up at the Doctor. He stood over at the counter speaking to the server asking for drinks. He didn't seem to feel her, and she knew how protective he was of his mind. When she asked once, when he was pinstripes and great hair, if he would ever look into her mind, he had panicked. Saying that it was too much for a human mind. At the time she had bitterly reminded him of Reinette and stormed out. Now, while still feeling the bitter twinge of jealousy, she mostly felt foolish. The human him had explained telepathic connection was, intimate to say the least. And Reinette was supposed to be an emergency. Nothing more. 

The door chimed. Rose turned to watch a young woman walk into the shoppe and the pressure in her head grew. The girl stopped, turning to scan the room pausing on the Doctor. Her head turned to Rose and their eyes met. The woman stared at Rose, before leaning forward to take a step. Then, without another moment of hesitation, she strutted over to Rose and slid into the booth.

"Can you-" The woman glanced, nervously around them and leaned in. "Can you feel me?" She tapped her head.

Rose, shocked by the woman, nodded in response.

The woman huffed a breath of relief, and smiled. "I'm Gwen, by the way. It's so nice to meet another telepath, well, two other telepaths..." She turned to the Doctor, staring curiously at his back. "Are you here with him?"

Rose started. "Wait, _another_ telepath. I'm not-" She paused. The Professor had touched her and she had felt her mind. Not to mention the TARDIS was clearer in her mind. She hadn't had the time to notice, but she could almost see the TARDIS, what each hum and caress meant. "I mean..."

"I'm Gwen by the way." The woman smiled and reached out with her right hand.

Rose looked at it and back to the woman. She slowly took her hand, and as if a match had been lit, Rose felt a spark light in her mind. The presence grew warmer and Rose could almost feel the tight coil of emotions rolling off Gwen. Happiness, anxiety, a bit of fear. Mostly, relief. Gwen didn't think she was alone.

Rose smiled sadly at the thought. She wasn't sure how she could feel the woman's emotions but she at least had the Doctor to figure it out. Rose could tell Gwen didn't have many people who could understand.

As if reading her mind, which Rose supposed she could, Gwen responded, "No, no other telepaths. But my parents knew, there's a tradition of women in my family starting with my namesake, Gwyneth. It skips a generation." She shrugged and pulled back, the presence faded but Rose could still feel the pressure against her skull. It wasn't quite painful, but unpleasant. She didn't feel like the TARDIS or even the Professor.

"'m sorry. My name's Rose by the way."

"Rose? My namesake knew a Rose, and her Doctor..." Gwen turned to look again at the Doctor's back. A curious eyebrow raised,

Rose was frozen. _Gwyneth._ As in Cardiff Gwyneth? But, she had died before she was married. Rose supposed she still could of had a kid, but she was so young when Rose had met her, when she had died. Did that mean...Rose looked at Gwen. She could see the resemblance. The same dark hair, full mouth, rounded nose. Rose couldn't believe she hadn't seen it, the two were almost identical give or take a few years. 

"You wouldn't happen to have the last name Tyler, would you?" Gwen turned back to her.

"Yes, I-that's me." Rose gave a nervous grin.

"And that's the Doctor?"

"Yeah."

Gwen almost jumped from her seat. "I've always wanted to meet you! You saved my grandmother's life! Well, my great-great-great-whatever gran." She waved her hand, and leaned over the table, accidentally shoving Rose's chips to the side.

"Saved her-" Rose paused, she hadn't saved Gwyneth last time. But she hadn't saved Jabe or the steward or even Cassandra. A small comfort flooded into her heart at the thought. 

"Whose this?" The two girls turned to face the Doctor. He stood angled towards Gwen, as he placed the drinks onto the table.

"Oh, hi I'm Gwen..." She stuck out her hand towards the Doctor. "It's nice to meet you D-" Rose kicked her under the table. Gwen shot her a questioning look and at the shake Rose's head, turned back to the Doctor. "Rose tells me you're a doctor."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and shook Gwen's hand. "I am, technically."

"Well," Gwen stood from the booth. "I have to go. Don't want to interrupt your date." Before the Doctor could protest, Gwen dashed out the door and Rose slowly felt her presence leak out of her mind.

Well...Now she just has more questions.

The Doctor slide into the empty booth and picked at the basket of chips. "Interesting friend."

"Says the alien." Rose smirked. "Doctor?" She had to know. Did Bad Wolf change more than just time?

"Yes?"

"Are-" She paused, did she know he was a telepath yet? "Are there telepathic species?"

The Doctor tilted his head. "Of course there are, why do you ask?" 

Rose took a moment. She needed to be logical about this, she couldn't just ask him if she was telepathic simply because Gwen thought she was. "Professor Tyler, she- I was a bit panicked and she touched my arm, it felt like she was in my head, sorta like the TARDIS..."

The Doctor froze. "You're not-are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Telepathic connection is really-it can be really personal."

"But the TARDIS-"

"Is the exception, not the rule." He sighed and reached for his drink. "The TARDIS isn't like us, she doesn't feel intimacy like that, but she also doesn't invade your mind or share her thoughts."

Rose was confused, since she came back all the TARDIS had done was share her thoughts. "But, I've felt the TARDIS...like-she felt like the Professor..." The Doctor's brow scrunched up.

"That shouldn't be possible."

"Because humans aren't telepathic?"

"Because humans are _rarely_ telepathic." The Doctor stood. "Grab your chips, I need to check something out."

Rose scrambled to follow him, his longer legs carrying him halfway down the street by the time she had closed the shoppe door. Rose jogged to catch up, meeting at the TARDIS doors. "What do you need to check?" The two walked into the console. 

"Some humans are born more susceptible to telepathic abilities, normally they're born every century or so." He turned to the console, sending it spiraling into the vortex. "It's weird, normally I can tell when a human's telepathic, this body must have dull senses," he murmured, not quite looking at Rose.

" _This_ body?" Rose turned to him. He had never mentioned regeneration before it happened.

The Doctor waved an absentminded hand in her direction. "Doesn't matter, Time Lord thing." He pressed a few buttons on the scanner and turned to her. "Have you always been able to feel other people?"

Rose leaned against the jumpseat. "No-just since I got in the TARDIS." He turned a look to the rotor at her answer. It was true, although she could feel the haze of a memory at the back of her mind. Before she could delve further into it Rose felt the TARDIS hum in her mind, a warning just before the ship began to shake.

"No, no! Hey, we aren't done here!" The Doctor hurried around the console trying, and struggling, to tame the ship. The TARDIS simply shook more violently in response and Rose latched onto her seat to prepare for what was going to be a hard landing. Sure, enough, the TARDIS thudded to a halt and sent the Doctor to the floor.

"Blimey!"

"Where are we, or when are we?" Rose stood to help the Doctor to his feet. He turned to the console display, with an unpleasant grimace.

"December 24th, 1869. We're in Cardiff!" He turned to Rose. 

_Gwyneth._ Already? She needed time to think to figure out what was happening to her mind. Her stomach churned.

"Rose, suggest you go to the wardrobe. Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella. There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." He paused and sent a look to the ceiling. "Take your time, I need to speak to the TARDIS about crash landings." Rose let out a loose chuckle at that, but the swirl of anxiety that had begun to build in her stomach forced its way up cutting her off. 

She just nodded, her throat closing when she tried to speak. Instead, Rose turned down the hall and slowly ambled towards the wardrobe.

The room was huge, filled with long racks of clothing, enough to get lost in silks and satin. Rose loved it. Back when she first traveled with the Doctor she would spend hours rifling through old dresses and scarves. Once, after his regeneration, she had walked into the console wearing a ridiculously long and colourful scarf. That was that first time she heard him describe one of his past lives. Now, she stands at the entrance of the room gazing at a rack of his clothes. From one end she can see a crisp black suit, the long scarf draped lazily across the top of the rack. Rose slips her hand through each suit, laughing lightly at some of his more eccentric outfits. She couldn't decide if the question marks and patchwork outfits were more endearing than jarring. Rose paused as her hand brushed across a pale trench coat. 

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, pushing the burning from behind her eyes back into her head. She closed her hand around the sleeve and pulled it off the rack. She wished he was with here. Not that he wasn't, but she couldn't tell him _anything_ right now. He didn't know her, and if she was changing time, he would never know her like he first did. Another part of Rose broke as a tear slipped down her face. She buried her head into the coat stifling her sobs.

She wanted everything to make sense. What did Bad Wolf do to her? Why did Gwen say she was telepathic? She felt the TARDIS in her head again, trying to soothe her tears. And suddenly, Rose was angry.

"Why won't you tell me what's happening?!" The ship hummed lowly. A small argumentative rebuttal. "Yeah, sending me to speak to my cryptic 'Goddess of Time' self didn't actually help, you know that?" Rose pulled back from the coat and glared at the ceiling. The lights dimmed almost apologetically. Rose sighed, and pinched her brow. "'m sorry, I just. Am I telepathic now? Can you at least tell me that?"

The TARDIS brighten slightly, and a small affirmative hum filled the air. 

"How-" Rose faltered. " _Bad Wolf_... of course." Rose sighed and shook her head. "Does that mean-has anything else changed?" 

The TARDIS hummed again, noncommittally.

"You're not going to tell me are you?" The TARDIS hummed for the third time, then went silent. Rose huffed in frustration. "I don't see why you can't tell me, I'm already breaking time by being here!" The ship didn't answer and Rose threw her hands up in frustration before stalking off to find a dress. 

The TARDIS seemed to be apologizing for her elusiveness by laying out Rose's maroon dress out across the changing screen. Rose fingered the fabric, slipping the silk between her hands. Some of her anger melted at the sight of it and the memory of the Doctor's face when he saw her walk down the TARDIS stairs. She blushed. Rose pulled at the dress and quickly changed into it, pulling her boots back on over the smooth stockings. She shook her hair out and pulled it up.

She'd need to be smart about this. Gwyneth died because the Doctor felt guilty about the Time War. They only found Gwyneth and Sneed because Rose was kidnapped. Rose tugged at her hair, she really didn't want to be drugged again, especially by _that_ creepy man. But, if she didn't then she would need to convince the Doctor to follow them without seeming suspicious. Obviously, the easy answer was to be kidnapped. Rose didn't like it.

Rose paced down the hall, back towards the console. Hopefully the TARDIS had explained Rose's sudden telepathic abilities to him. She had a semblance of a plan on how to save Gwyneth, but the Doctor had to believe her. She slowly trudged down the stairs, dazedly looking at her shoes.

The Doctor's light hitched breath pulled her head up to meet his eyes. He looked the same as last time. A light blush across his cheeks and a dazed look in his bright, blue eyes. Rose had to tamper down a smile. "What do you think?" She raised her arms and spun as she stepped onto the floor.

"You're beautiful." Rose did blush at that.

"For a human?" She couldn't help the tease. 

"Uh..." He pulled his hand behind his head in a familiar awkward gesture and cleared his throat.

Rose decided to take pity on the poor alien and turned to the doors. "Its Christmas." She turned to the Doctor, who was still collecting himself. "That's so weird. Only happens once, just once and it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again." Unless you were her. 

"Well, that's why I never stay still." The Doctor reached out his hand. 

Rose smiled, took his elbow instead and lead him out the door into the snowy city. "'s not a bad life." She looked up at him. "But, better with two." He grinned down at her, sending a blush course through her body. Rose turned her head down as she kicked a small pile of snow. "So, what do you think we're here for?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and glared back at the TARDIS. "She thinks she knows better than me."

"Why? What did you talk to her about?"

He looked back at her. "I can't feel you." He tapped his head. "Which would indicate your not telepathic, or you have mental shields. But the TARDIS says you are."

Rose almost tripped over her dress. "She did?" That was a relief. "Did she explain how?"

"No..." He turned back to her, eyes softening as he grabbed her hand with his free one. "She decided a distraction would be better, apparently I'm not allowed to know."

"Which makes you want to know even more."

The Doctor grinned, a wide manic smile."Of course!"

Then a scream pierced the air. The two of them whipped their heads around to face the theatre. A crowd of panicked men and women fled the theatre as the high-pitched screams grew in number.

The Doctor turned to Rose. "Well, found what she wanted us to check out!" He dropped her arm and grabbed her hand tightly in his dragging her towards the theatre. Rose pulled at him as she spotted Sneed's carriage. "Doctor!" She tilted her head towards the struggling man as he pulled an old woman out of the theatre. Gwyneth followed shortly behind. The Doctor turned and glanced at Sneed. He groaned.

"All right, go! No running off though, alright!" He pointed a finger and ran to the theatre, struggling through the crowd.

Rose sighed and moved towards Sneed and Gwyneth. She would have to stall, at the very least. 

"What're you doing?!" 

Gwyneth turned at Rose's voice and Rose was reminded of the similarities between her and her apparent descendant. "Oh, it's a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself. Me and the master will deal with it. The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary."

Rose scoffed and turned to the corpse, without touching her she could see she was dead. "Don't lie to me, she's dead, Gwyneth." Rose turned back to Gwyneth. The girl took a step back.

"I-how?" The girl tilted her head as a glazed look came over her eyes. "Oh-you're Bad Wolf..." Rose froze. Even as she felt Sneed at her back, her feet refused to move. She knew Gwyneth was telepathic, she knew she saw the future, but seeing _Bad Wolf?_ Rose felt Sneed's arms lock around her, shoving a cloth around her mouth. As she opened her mouth to scream she felt the chloroform invade her senses and her head began to spin. The world tilted into darkness and Rose fell.

When Rose woke it was with an uncomfortable groan, and a hazy reminder of the feeling of Sneed lifting her into the coach. Rose shuddered at the feel of his hands. Oh, she was gonna lose it when she saw him again. Rose slid of the table and turned to the coffins. The Gelth would wake them up soon. 

Sure enough, as Rose backed towards the door, the male cadaver rose from his resting place and struggled out of the box. "Doctor!" She hoped he had seen her this time. Rose banged on the door. "Let me out!" She pressed herself against the door and held out a cautioning hand to the Gelth. "Stop! I know what you are!" 

The body stopped and stared. Rose swallowed. "I know you're Gelth. I know about the Time War!"

The cadaver's head snapped to attention. "We are dying..." It's voice hissed at her as it began to stutter towards her, again. Rose could see the woman rising out of the corner of her eyes.

"Doctor!?" She called again. The two bodies stumbled towards her with outstretched hands.

The door opened just as they reached her and Rose felt the Doctor's hand yank her through the door. "I think this is my dance."

"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." Rose turned to face the man who stood behind them. Right, Charles Dickens was here. Rose rolled her eyes, of course he was. 

"No, we're not. The dead are walking. Hi." The Doctor grabbed Rose's shoulders. "Thought you promised not to run off?" 

"Hi. To be fair I was kidnapped, and two, technically I never promised." She smirked up at him. "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens." He shrugged as if that was obvious.

"Right." 

The Doctor turned back to the Gelth. "My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?"

"Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us!" The corpses screeched and collapsed as gas escaped from them back into the walls.

"Well, that was creepy..." Rose turned to the Doctor. "If you'll excuse me, I have some words for my gracious kidnapper." With a glare, Rose turned and marched down the hall.

It was cathartic, yelling at Sneed. Rose let out all her frustration on him. The telepathy thing, Bad Wolf, the TARDIS and reliving her timeline. All her fears melted off her as anger replaced it. "First of all you drug me," Rose paced, "-then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." She spun on her heel and huffed. The Doctor was simply standing behind her with a smug smile on his face. "Oi, you try being kidnapped!" 

The Doctor simply laughed at her reddened face. "No, I'm good."

Rose shook her head and leaned against the wall as Sneed attempted to stand. "I won't be spoken to like this!"

Rose glowered at him. "Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies!" She scoffed and folded her arms. "And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk!" She pressed herself back into the mantle.

"It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless." Sneed sneered in defense. Rose raised an eyebrow and turned to the Doctor who wore a similarly unimpressed look.

"Tommyrot." Dickens turned to Sneed.

"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps."

Rose tuned out the two men and watched as Gwyneth crept into the room, her head hung low, with two teacups in her shaky hands. "Here, sir, miss. Just like you like." She cautiously placed the tea down and scurried out of the room. Before Rose could hear the men continue to argue she followed Gwyneth down the hall. 

The girl stood in the kitchen with her back to Rose. "Need any help?"

Gwyneth startled, dishes clacked in the sink as she whipped around to face Rose. "Oh! No, miss, its-I'm alright..." She turned her face down and shuffled her dress.

Rose took a step forward. "You called me Bad Wolf...why?"

"Because you're the wolf." Gwyneth shrugged and peeked up at Rose.

Rose took another step forward. "Can you feel me...?" Rose tried to expand her mind, to grasp onto some part of Gwyneth, but she felt nothing there. "I can't feel you..."

"Oh, yes, miss." Gwyneth looked her in the eye, the same dazed look crossing over her face. "You're so bright...it burns." A tear slipped down her face. "You've seen so much, changed time. And you've seen me-" Her breath hitched "-you've seen me die." She reached for Rose's sleeve and gripped tightly to her arm. "Am I gonna die, miss?" She looked to Rose with bright, terrified eyes.

Rose was taken aback, she looked to the quivering girl and her heart broke. She placed a, hopefully, comforting hand on her shoulder. "No, no...you'll be fine. I've seen your future too. I've seen it change." She thought of Gwen and her stories. She'd already changed Gwyneth's fate by coming back. "It's okay." The poor girl was shaking in Rose's arms. 

"I see so much, miss. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it." Gwyneth fell into Rose's shoulder, stifling her sobs.

"But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" Rose jumped at the Doctor's voice. He leaned against the door with a pensive look on his face. His head tilted towards Rose, then quickly back to Gwyneth.

Rose's heart picked up. _How much did he hear?_

"All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head. I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts." She looked to Rose. "But nothings ever explained it."

The Doctor stepped forward. "You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key."

"For what Doctor?" Rose turned to him, her arm draped protectively around the young girl.

"Well, I don't know. We need to figure out the mystery first."

"How do we do that?"

"Ever seen a seance, Gwyneth?" Rose groaned at the Doctor's grin. And a small flutter of fear settled in her stomach.


	6. The Unquiet Dead: Archway of Ghosts

Gwyneth paced around the table, setting a candle in its center and adjusting the chairs nervously. "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town." She sat down at the head of the table. "Come, we must all join hands." Gwyneth placed her hands on the table, palm facing up towards.

Rose squeezed Gwyneth’s shoulders as she moved to sit. The poor girl’s eyes darted across the room, nervously glancing at each light fixture. Her shoulders tensed as the flame’s flickered, just waiting for the spirits to make themselves known.

Rose paused to ponder Gwyneth’s form. Of course, she was acting different. Whatever she saw in Rose had changed and she had seen her own death. Rose clenched her hands around the table cloth, tightly gripping the sheet until her knuckles turned white. The girl was too young, as young as Rose was when she first met her. A girl barely old enough to know anything about the world. And Rose supposed she was in the same boat the first time around.

Rose closed her eyes and tilted her head back as she remembered, Gwyneth hadn’t even kissed a boy yet, just talked to a baker’s son. She had too much life she had left to live. And Rose knew she had to save her, even if she was hurt in the process. She could only hope the Doctor wouldn’t hate her.

Rose was pulled from her thoughts by the loud shout from her side. "I can't take part in this!" Dickens stood looking towards the door. He didn’t believe them yet, and Rose dreaded dealing with more people like him in their future, her brain already imploding from the cacophony of disbelieving shouts and protests. She sighed and turned to let the Doctor deal with him, only smiling slightly when Dickens huffed and plopped down next to her.

"Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out." The Doctor reached for Rose's open palm. She let the feeling of his cool hand draw her into the moment and focus on Gwyneth. The girl calmed as she looked to her. Rose simply nodded in reassurance and watched as she turned to the centre candle.

Gwyneth shook her shoulders and pulled them back. Slowly, she dragged in a breath, fog filling her lungs as the air cooled with each pull. "Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." 

The lights flickered.

Shadows crept up the walls snuffing out each flickering flame one by one until the only source of light reflected onto their faces from the centre of the table. The low flame curled heat across Rose’s cheeks as the air grew cold against her back. A slow, raking shiver crawled down her spine and for a moment Rose forgot. She forgot ghosts weren't real, and she could swear something was clawing at her back, its claws digging into her spine and whispers chilling her ear. And then the whispers sounded like Gwyneth and Rose jolted back to her body and stared at the girl.

Rose shivered. The room began to echo with Gwyneth, a language being half-spoken in some tongue even the TARDIS wouldn’t translate. But the sounds...It sounded like a quiet scream.

"I see them. I feel them." The Doctor's palm squeezed hers as Gwyneth’s voice began to grow distant, drowned in the impossibly large voices filling her ears and pushing against her skull. She could _swear_ it was a scream.

The Doctor rose slightly from his chair pulling Rose’s hand with him. "They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through." Rose could feel the pounding grow harder against her skull. _Did he not hear the screaming?_

"I can't!" Gwyneth’s brows scrunched as a small whimper of pain pushed past her lips. Rose almost imitated the sound as the growing headache pushed well past painful. And she knew it was Gwyneth crying for help. Rose wanted to yell back, but the pain held her in place.

"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link." 

Rose pulled at the Doctor trying to get him to notice. He needed to stop. They hurt. Gwyneth hurt. _My head...It’s killing me..._

"Yes." And with Gwyneth’s hushed single syllable, the screaming stopped. Rose looked to where her hand intertwined with the Doctor’s, small red indents left by her nails spattered his pale skin. She looked up to him to apologize but her gaze was pulled to a glowing light on the table. Blue and hazy instead of the flickering orange of flame. Rose’s heart jumped to her throat as the bright form of a Gelth stared back at her.

"Great God! Spirits from the other side." Sneed almost pulled out of the Doctor’s grip, tugging Rose across and into the Doctor’s side. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the thing. The monster that killed the poor girl sitting motionless across from her.

"The other side of the universe..." Rose almost pulled away at the Doctor’s voice. He was awed. And only Rose knew what they would try to say, what they would bring up to get him to pity them.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." Their voices were sweet, like children’s voices, a ruse, a sick ploy to win pity and affection from a guilt-ridden Time Lord. Rose shook her head, she couldn’t let them speak an further.

Rose straightened her back and squared her shoulders pushing the fear growing in her stomach to the back of her mind. "What do you want?" Rose clenched her fingers around the Doctor's hand hoping to pull him down to her and away from them.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge." The ghost turned to her, reaching a transparent hand forward. 

Rose started. "No." She pulled at the Doctor’s hand again and attempted to stand. “You can’t use her.”

The Doctor, immovable as ever, stayed firmly rooted at her side a scrunched brow plastered across his forehead. "Rose!" She turned to him, his blue eyes flashed with surprise and a deeply set confusion. “They need our help!” 

Rose sighed and tilted her head down. He had to believe her. "They tried to kill me.” She attempted to level her voice despite the shakiness of fear trying to pull at her chest. “Now they want to use Gwyneth." Rose softened as she gazed at Gwyneth who was stock still, either from shock or lack of ability to do anything but channel the aliens. "Doctor, how can we trust them?" 

The child-like Gelth decided to interject before he could answer. "We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

That grabbed the Doctor's attention and he turned from Rose to face the creatures. Rose almost screamed in frustration. "Why, what happened?"

"Doctor, no." Rose tried to pull back from him, to break the chain before the Gelth could continue. Instead he gripped her tighter. 

"Rose, what is going on!" He pulled her close to him, playing tug of war with Dickens on her other side. Rose stared into his eyes, pleading him to listen. Just this once, even if he threw her out afterwards.

The Gelth continued despite the staring contest between them. "Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came." 

"War? What war?" 

_No._ Rose flinched.

"Doctor, please. Don't trust them." He wouldn't look at her, too absorbed in the Gelth, terrified of their answer. Rose felt the panic rise and crash into her anxiety. 

"The Time War." He stepped back a gasp spilling from his throat. Rose clenched her eyes shut and turned away. _That was it, wasn’t it._ The Doctor’s reasoning turned off at the mere mention of the Time War. Rose couldn’t breathe. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state." They weren’t the only ones to use the Time War as an excuse for their actions, Rose remembered the Nestene. And like the Nestene she wouldn’t allow the Gelth to hurt innocent people.

"So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor’s voice strained. Rose could feel the anguish roll of him and she gasped in a breath.

"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us." 

Rose turned, the anger of causing the Doctor grief turned against the Gelth. "No!" Rose glared. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" The table turned to the Doctor. Gwyneth eyeing them both as he pulled at Rose."Why Rose, is it not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." His eyes turned down in fury at her. Rose almost believed he was angry, but she could see. He wasn’t angry, he felt guilty and confused. Rose just barely reigned herself in and forced herself to stand firm.

"At the cost of what? Who is consenting to this?” She paused, she had to make him believe her. “If it were my body would you let them walk around in it?" He pulled back and turned his eyes to the floor. "Why do we get to make this choice?"

"Why do you care?!"

Rose froze. The room went silent at the Doctor’s outburst. She pulled her hand free from Dickens’ slack grip and reached for the Doctor pausing as he flinched away to stare at the ground. “Doctor-”

"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth shrieked, and Rose realized her pulling away to comfort the Doctor broke the link holding them together. With a whisper the gaseous form dissipated and the lights flickered on blinding the room. 

Rose felt the Doctor pull away from her and, once her eyes adjusted to the suddenly bright room, she turned to look at his tensed shoulders.

"Doctor?" She placed a hand on his back between tightened shoulder blades. Rose swallowed, she had to explain to him why he shouldn’t trust the Gelth. He just had to listen. "Please-" 

A thud sounded behind them and they turned to see Gwyneth face first on the table, a corpse-like slump to her body. For a second Rose felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight and Rose’s vision swam with the image of an archway leading to a similarly slumped body. Luckily, the unmistakable rise and fall of Gwyneth’s chest pulled Rose’s focus back to her. Relief pulled at the tightness of her throat.

"Gwyneth?" Rose rushed to her side and placed a hand on her forehead. She was cold, almost freezing to the touch. "Doctor, she needs to rest..." Rose looked up towards him, panicked. 

The Doctor stood still, looking at the image of Rose bent over the unconscious girl. He didn’t offer to move, too focused on where Rose’s hands splayed on the girl’s back.

Rose turned to Sneed and Dickens instead. “Help me get her to the settee.” She nodded at the men and pulled on Gwyneth’s arm to rest her weight against her side, grunting with the effort. 

Slowly, and cautiously, the three of them moved Gwyneth to lie across the sofa. She was pale and freezing to the touch. Rose felt another swell of pity as she stared at her sleeping form. Once again, Rose was reminded of how young Gwyneth was, how young _she_ was when she first started this adventure. Time has a funny way of forcing you to grow up, she didn’t get to go to university like other girls, and neither did Gwyneth she supposed. They were so alike. Both confused and so sure of what they think the world consisted of. Then the Doctor came along...and he changed their lives. Rose held back a bitter smile.

Her hand gently brushed a lock of Gwyneth’s dark hair off her face.

But life wasn't fair, Rose got to live, _with the Doctor_ , and Gwyneth got to die. She almost huffed in frustration as she felt a tear prick at her own eyes. Then there was the whole telepathy thing. 

"What I don't get-” Rose jumped at the sound of the Doctor’s voice. He stood behind her arms crossed and brows furrowed as his icy eyes trailed up her still extended arm and towards her own. “-’s why you don’t want to help them. What happened to ‘everyone gets a chance, Doctor?’”

Rose felt hot shame well in her chest and tried to force herself to look him in the eye. She had said that, and she knew what a hypocrite was. But she knew the Gelth were manipulating him, they weren't decimated by the Time War, they weren't in desperate need of bodies, they just wanted to invade. But did that mean they were all exempt from pity?

Rose internally shook herself. _No_ .They were using him, using the Doctor’s pain, and that was enough for her. She felt heat flush through her replacing the shame with anger. _They wanted to hurt him!_ Rose was reminded of what the Professor had said, _if it were him that was hurt, wouldn’t you do the same?_ She was right, the Gelth hurt the Doctor and that was enough to let them die. Rose paused at the thought. And then she really had to look away. 

She didn’t want to _kill_ them. Did she? Her stomach twisted. Maybe he was right, maybe she should find a way to help them. 

"Doctor, I-" Rose reached for him but he pulled back and Rose almost cried at the look he gave her. Disgust, he was disgusted with her. She was tempted to agree with the sentiment. Her stomach bubbled as she pulled her hands to her chest.

"Don't.”

Rose turned back to Gwyneth, her heart stalling in her chest. She felt bile rise in her throat and almost broke into a sob as she felt the TARDIS wash a comforting hum over her body. Rose knelt next to Gwyneth. What was she becoming? Rose shook and felt a tear slip out of her grasp as she reached for Gwyneth’s still hand. She needed to think, but the thought of what she was ready to do to the Gelth pushed at her. 

Rose felt her anxiety leak out of her as if being leached from an open wound a warmth filling the space left behind. Rose’s eyes shot open and she stared at Gwyneth who began to turn in her sleep, her brow scrunching in pain. Rose yanked her hand back, her mind racing.

"Doctor? What did you say about Gwyneth, being the key?"

The Doctor shifted to face her, hard lines still framing untrusting eyes. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let the Gelth through."

"Why her though, is it just the rift?" Rose's mind began trying to piece everything together faster than she could process. "Or is it her 'gift'" If it was what she thought then, Gwyneth wouldn’t have to do it. And maybe, just maybe, Rose could convince the Gelth to listen to the Doctor, to find a new home. Everybody lives.

The Doctor's eyes softened slightly, catching on to what Rose was suggesting. " _Rose, no_."

"Why not?" Rose stood. "This is why the TARDIS brought us here, my apparent abilities match hers. And if it's safe why not try me first." She shrugged and stepped towards him. She had to try, even if it killed her. She faltered at the thought, but, no, she would rather die than let someone else do so in her place. After all, it’s what the Doctor did.

"I don't know if it _is_ safe." Rose watched as the lines on his face faded. He was still scared for her, Rose felt a small whisper of relief at the thought, as if his worry for her life superseded the suspicion he was feeling towards her. But, she supposed it was warranted suspicion. She would have to do better.

"Then why risk her." Rose turned to gesture to the still unconscious girl. "You're right, everyone gets a chance. I shouldn't judge." _Even though they did try to kill me._ She rocked towards him, bringing her arms around herself. "But, if I'm right, then an innocent girl won't pay for it." She pleaded with the Doctor, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Please, she’s younger than me.”

The Doctor turned away towards the fireplace. He stared at the mantle for a few moments then sighed, dropping his shoulders. "Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?" Rose smiled, at least she'd changed this even if it was the last thing she’d get to.

Sneed looked astonished at the question and Rose suddenly felt a little flustered at ignoring their company. "That would be the morgue."

The Doctor turned back to her looking for something in her eyes. Whatever it was he must have found it as he turned back towards Sneed and nodded. "Lead the way." 

Rose smiled even as her stomach clenched. 

* * *

Rose crept into the morgue behind the Doctor, her hands twitched towards his jacket several times but she restrained herself at the memory of him pulling away. Instead, Rose studied the cool passageways and tunnels that lived underneath the house. The stone felt almost alive, in the way where Rose felt as if it was watching her every step. But the cadavers that lay poorly covered by stained white sheets felt as empty as a black hole, all life vanished into nothingness. Rose clutched at her neck at the sad forms. She had to turn away and stare ahead after spotting a small form under an even smaller scrap of fabric barely enough to cover her own legs. 

The lights began to flicker the deeper the trio walked until they came to a halt in front of an archway.

That was it.

Rose felt the air in her lungs freeze. _I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch._ Rose shuddered, she could die here. Cardiff, 1869. But was that any different from any of their adventure? 

Rose let out a shaky laugh and squared her shoulders. It was now or never. She stepped forward but paused as a Gelth spirit flowed from a still lit gas lamp and formed, small and wispy, at the base of the archway. "You've come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him." The voice grated on Rose, she knew the desperation was a ploy, but the continuation of using a child's voice felt like a punch to her gut. She gritted her teeth, no, she had to give them a chance.

The Doctor stepped in front of her. "Promise you won't hurt her. I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?"

As the Gelth urged them forward, a half agreement on its ghostly lips, the Doctor turned and grabbed Rose by the shoulders staring her directly in the eye. "Are you sure?"

"No," she said, in all honesty she wasn’t but that didn’t matter.The Doctor's grip on her arms tightened. "But...someone has to. Besides, maybe this explains my newfound _powers_ ." She waved her hands, waggling her fingers in a mock spell. _That_ got him to smirk. Rose smiled back, at least he wasn’t mad anymore.

"Probably not, when this is over we'll figure _that_ out." He tapped her forehead.

Rose nodded and, pushing back a blush at the light touch, pushed forward. It was time, she walked towards the arch and braced. 

_"Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!"_ The childlike whispers echoed around her. 

Rose shut her eyes and tried to allow something through, holding onto the thought of giving them a chance.

For a second Rose felt like Harry Potter, waiting to get sorted and fearing nothing would happen. She stood, still, but felt nothing. And then, something small pushed into her mind.

It was...strange and a bit unpleasant.

The tendril grew larger and larger until Rose felt the stretch of her mind at its invasion. A part of her tried to push it back, to get it out, but it was persistent and began to shove its way further into her body. The tendril hit her heart and branched out along her veins. Claws bursting from her blood and into her bones.

It was agony.

She thought she heard a scream.

And it didn't stop. They wouldn’t stop. Rose could feel them within every inch of her. They needed her to burst open to escape. The last remaining part of Rose’s brain not overtaken by their dark grip held onto itself, encasing her body in a shield to trap them in there with her. She pushed them into a space, somewhere quiet, where she could tune out the sound of her own screams and press down the pain into a numb discomfort. Quiet and dark. Quiet and...

* * *

She opened her eyes. And she _saw_ them. Monstrous creatures. Both human and completely not. Rose stared in awe as the creatures looked to their appendages.

 _What have you done…_ The Gelth turned to her, glowing eyes boring into her soul. Rose turned to look around her. Millions upon millions of Gelth stared at her. A deep chill settled into her core, there wasn't an inch of space without something glaring at her. Eyes upon eyes upon eyes, all just...staring.

 _I...I brought you here to offer a chance._ She tried to sound confident, but even in her own mind she felt herself waver. Her body felt weak and worn, the strain of the Gelth pressing against her almost too much. And the eyes...

_You knew what we were before we had revealed ourselves...what is this magic?_

_Not magic. Bad Wolf..._ Rose felt herself grow warm at the words, enough to pull a confident tinge into her words. _I want to offer you a chance...listen to the Doctor, take a few bodies and follow him to a new planet._

A cacophony of hisses filled the void. Rose turned to face billions of eyes surrounding her and felt a heavy weight settle on her heart. _Please, we’ll let you leave._

_You think we will leave? Insolence! We will have our bodies even if we must force our way through._

Rose almost screamed in frustration, her chest growing heavier with every denying word from them. _Please, listen to me!_

But the Gelth refused. An without warning they began to push against her. Billions pushing into her, their claws sinking into her flesh and tearing back into her mind. Rose tried to push them back, to raise the shield over her body again. She couldn't breathe. They pushed and pushed. And as she turned pushing against the weight of them she could only see their eyes, glowing in the dark and burning into her mind.

It hurt.

_Please, stop..._

"ROSE! YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM!"

 _Doctor?_ His voice sent a ripple through the pressure inside her, loosening the limbs clinging to her heart and ribs and jolting her awake. Rose reached for his voice. She had to get out, she did her job. She needed to get out! Rose pushed. She grabbed the hands clinging to her and lifted them off finger by finger until she was free of their cold heat. And then she pulled herself out of the dark.

"Rose!" She gasped awake, sprawled on the morgue's cold floor. She drew in a cold haggard breath, feeling her chest strain. It felt like she still had those monstrous bodies pressed against her. Rose flopped onto her front, a gasp erupting from her lips at the strain, spying the Doctor stuck behind the sealed metal grate his eyes locked onto something behind her.

Rose followed his gaze with a growing sense of apprehension, as she struggled to catch her breath, and nearly gasped at the sight of a clearly possessed Mr. Sneed. His eyes glowed a pale blue light as his head, clearly snapped at the neck, bent towards her. Rose attempted to scramble to her feet as his cold hands reached towards her, a hiss on his hanging jaw. _"You've blocked us from coming!"_

She bumped against the grate, snapping her already pounding head against the metal bars, and reached for the Doctor's hands, stilling one from its fumbling with the sonic, an attempt being made to open the gate. Before he could wrench the door open Rose felt a hand press against her neck. Sharp, jagged nails dug into her skin. Rose felt a tear slip down her face as she looked into the Doctor's frantic blue eyes. His free hand stilling as his other gripped hers tightly, as if he could keep her there.

Rose smiled bitterly.

"Doctor-" She held in a gasp. "-I'm so glad I meet you." She closed her eyes, bracing for the pain.

She never felt it, as the door burst open and Gwyneth and Dickens scurried down the stairs. A shoe flying from Gwyneth's hand, striking the deceased Sneed across the jaw. His broken neck whipped back, pulling him away from Rose and to the harsh concrete floor with a resounding smack.

"I'm sorry, sir!" Gwyneth looked to Rose and grabbed her, pulling her away from the zombie Sneed. "Miss, are you alright?"

Rose stared at the girl for a moment, tuning Dickens out as he told them to turn up the gas, and then, with an unnatural speed, pulled her into a bruising hug, a sigh of relief and a half sob bubbling up from her chest. "Yes, yes I'm fine Gwyneth...thank you." Rose pulled back and turned to the Doctor. She reached for the gate and clung to it for support as he raced to unlock it, fumbling miserably as he stared into her eyes, anger and worry etched into his face. When he finally opened the gate she launched herself into his arms sinking into the comforting feel of leather. He enveloped her in himself, folding his body around her in a protective embrace. Rose almost managed to not flinch as he pressed a firm hand against her pounding skull. Despite the pain she smiled, she had done it! She felt her limbs grow limp against the Doctor. An exhaustion settling over her.

"We have to go!" Dickens shouted from behind them. 

The Doctor extracted himself from Rose's arms and instead took her hand looking into her dreary, half-closed eyes. Rose's heart stuttered at the feel of his hand in hers and she felt her headache dissipate, whether from the contact of another telepath or simply the contact of him, she didn’t know but she did lean into his arm and allowed him to pull her out and into the street. Rose almost didn’t notice the explosion.

"Remind you of anything." Rose turned to the Doctor, entwining their fingers and resting her head against his shoulder.

He looked down at their hands and slowly extracted himself. Rose felt a stab through her heart. "I just..." The Doctor was saved from Rose's hurtful expression by Gwyneth who flung herself into her arms.

"Rose!" The girl pulled back. "You saved me!" Rose looked over her shoulder to watch the Doctor wander over to Dickens. She turned back to Gwyneth and gave her a small, albeit tired, smile.

"I'm sorry about Mr. Sneed." Rose tried to give a comforting smile, but a pang of guilt made her falter. "I should have saved him too." His face would be in her nightmares, she just knew it. Especially that broken neck. Rose shuddered at the image.

"Oh, miss-" Gwyneth grasped her hands in her own and Rose gasped as a warm presence trickled into her mind and eased at her head. Gwyneth smiled and the presence furthered moved into her mind and settled her worries. "-its alright, miss. It wasn't your fault."

Rose looked into Gwyneth's eyes and, seeing the genuine sincerity there, pulled a weak smile to her lips. Then she paused and pulled back. "I felt you, before, when you were unconscious, but I didn’t feel you before that?"

Gwyneth huffed out a small laugh. "The Gelth, they were blocking my mind since birth, prepping me to save my 'angels'." She squeezed Rose's hands. "It turns out an angel saved me."

Rose laughed shaking her head. "Oh, I'm no angel." Her shoulders slumped at the thought of what she had said to the Doctor, _she had wanted them to die._

Gwyneth pulled at her arm. "Believe what you will, Wolf. You're gonna do some great things.” Gwyneth smiled and brushed a hand across Rose’s forehead, pulling a stray golden lock behind her ear. “Until we meet again." With one last caress of her mind, Gwyneth flounced off towards a retreating Dickens. Rose watched as the two talked, a small melancholy washed over her. He would also be dead by next Christmas. Another life she wouldn't be able to save. Rose pulled herself out of her stupor, _no need to think about that,_ and turned to the TARDIS. The doors stood open, without the Doctor in sight.

Concerned, Rose picked up her skirts and raced to the ship. She huffed out a cold breath as she stepped into the heated room. The Doctor stood facing the console.

Rose sighed at the sight and slumped into the jumpseat. “Well, don’t know about you but I’m exhausted.” She let out a loose chuckle but paused at the answering silence. “Doctor…?”

His shoulders pulled tightly together as he leaned forward, bracing his hands against the console. Rose stood and reached for him, placing a hand on the cool of his back. He didn’t pull away but his shoulders didn’t relax either. Rose decided to take that as a good thing and sidled up behind him, allowing her face to relax. “Hey. It’s okay.” She paused. “ _I’m_ okay.” Aside from a headache and a billion questions, she was.

“No, you’re not.”

Rose stepped back. “Doctor, I think I know-”

He stood and pulled away to face her. “That’s just it! You’re not thinking! Rose this is the second time! You could’ve _died._ ” His voice cracked and he quickly turned to pull the dematerialization lever. "Right in..." He clenched his jaw, his body mimicking the movement.

Rose tried to smile. “But I didn’t…” Even she knew how weak of a joke it was, but she didn’t know what to say. It was either her or Gwyneth? And she knew Gwyneth wouldn’t live? How would she explain that. She rubbed at her temple trying to alleviate the added pain on top of her already pounding psychic headache. “Doctor," she lifted her gaze to his downward turned eyes and, seeing the determined anger set in them, she sighed and shrugged letting her own feelings wash away, "I think I should go to bed. I’m too tired to have an argument.” She faced him and watched him scarcely nod in response. She tried not to feel too angry at that and turned down the hallway, ignoring the heavy pit settling in her stomach.

And to think, he looked so nice when he saw her in that dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hard to finish. So many rewrites! Thank you for all the lovely comments!


	7. Interlude: A Series of Conversations

He stood with his back to the pulsing heart of his home. The soft hum grew until it drowned out his senses and pulled him down to the rough grating beneath his feet.

He just didn't understand.

He reached up a palm and cupped the centre of his chest, feeling the pulse of two hearts hammering against his rib cage. 

Why couldn't she understand? _Why did they-_

His TARDIS' hum grew unbearable loud and with a shove he pushed her firmly out of his mind. The whole ship went quiet, until all hat was left was the steady beat of his hearts against his chest and the racing thoughts in his mind.

He slammed his fist to the harsh metal.

* * *

She slammed her head back against the door. The dull thud of her skull cracking against the unyielding wood over and over until her vision swam with anything but her tears. 

_Stupid, idiotic alien._

Rose brushed a shaky hand down her face and huffed. Her heart was pounding in her ears. The rhythmic pumping angering her with its incessant drum against her rib cage. 

Why couldn't he understand? _Why was he so..._

"Argh!" She slammed her head back again.

_Thud!_

"Fuck!" Rose gripped her head. That was stupid. She felt like she split her skull in half. Slowly she pulled her hand in front of her face and sighed in relief. No blood. Good. But- "fuck," the pain was lacing down her body, rippling across her arms and into her still racing heart. "Oh, bollocks." 

Rose pulled herself to her feet and limped across the room to her waiting bed. It's soft sheets a cool press against her burning face. She could barely let out a grateful sigh at the feeling before a light trill pressed itself into her headache. For a moment, she considered chucking her phone at the same door that almost had her brains splattered over it. Instead she fumbled for the stupid thing and flipped it open barking out some greeting through the ringing that had begun to fill her ears.

_"Rose? Are you okay?"_

Rose shot up at the voice knocked her phone onto the floor. Shaking herself she righted and scooped the phone up. "Professor?"

 _"Yeah. Again, are you okay?"_ The woman's voice wavered as if distracted. 

Rose paused. She didn't know this woman, this person who knew everything about her and, on top of that, apparently was a telepath.

_Wait? Telepathic?_

Gripping the cell tightly Rose pressed it to her ear and let out a shaky breath. "Um, something weird happened today-" She stopped waiting for an answering question, when one didn't come she continued letting the emotions of the day press into her words. "-I saved someone, and may have almost died so the Doctor's angry. Also-" She paused.

_"Also?"_

"I think I'm telepathic." She whispered, almost as if she were telling herself instead of the woman on the other end of the phone.

There was a long pause. Rose had started to count her heartbeat by the time an answer came.

_"Yeah and...?"_

That drew Rose up short. That was not what she was expecting.

"What do you mean 'yeah and'? In case you didn't know, humans aren't supposed to be telepathic?"

The Professor snorted. _"Yeah but you're not really human are you?"_

"What?"

_"Not many people become a goddess and walk away completely human. But you knew that already."_

Rose pulled the phone down, letting her limp wrist plop into her lab. Of course, she knew _Bad Wolf_ had caused all of this, but she just hadn't realized that it might be more than just being psi sensitive. But...how had the Professor known?

Rose pulled the phone up, staring despondently to her door. A half question pulled at her lips. "Professor? How? Why... did you call?" She whispered, scared to know if the woman had a one way link to her mind.

 _"Because you needed me to."_ Rose drew her legs up to her chest, that wasn't reassuring. _"Don't worry about him being angry, he was always overprotective of you."_ The woman paused, and Rose could almost hear her smirk. _"You'll show him how well you can take care of yourself soon enough."_

"And you know about Bad Wolf?" Rose could feel the gears in her head spinning. 

_"Rose,"_ the woman sighed, catching onto Rose's questions, _"don't try to figure it out, not yet. Trust me."_

"But-"

 _"Trust me."_ Rose pulled back, the Professor's voice lowered in warning and she was very suddenly and abruptly reminded of the Doctor. Shaking that thought away, Rose sighed and acquiesced, filing her thoughts away for later.

"Okay."

 _"Okay."_ The Professor sighed into the phone and Rose could feel the woman's relief. It almost made her feel bad that she was definitely going to figure out who she was. Almost. She needed the distraction. _"So, tell me about your day. Why exactly did the Doctor get all -?"_ Rose could tell the woman was making a face and a laugh bubbled out of her before she could stop it.

Rose sighed and turned over onto her stomach. Briefly, she recalled late night slumber parties with girls from the estates and pink pillows sprawled across soda stained floors. That was so far now. Rose felt a trickle of sadness at the thought. At the time she took her time with her friends for granted, guaranteed forevers that would never come to pass. Half of them she didn't even know anymore, and the others she barely talked to. She can't even remember the last time she spoke to Shareen or what she said, probably some half lie about the 'bloke' she was travelling with.

Rose reached up to her neck and traced the small indents left by Sneed's nails. How could she explain something like that to her old friend?

 _But the Professor..._ She could talk to her about everything that happened. Even if she didn't fully understand the woman, she clearly knew enough about Rose to have met her, or the Doctor, sometime in her future. _And if she knew about Bad Wolf..._ Rose sighed and pulled her phone close to her ear. Like she said, she needed a distraction. "Okay. It-it started when we me this girl in a diner... We were going for chips and this woman, probably around my age, maybe older, walked into the shoppe. And she walks over to me and tells me her name, Gwen, and that she can _feel_ me. Like, telepathically. Long story short she's named after her great gran, Gwyneth. _Who_ , the TARDIS, our ship," she explains, " just so happens to take us to meet in...1869." Did she know about the time-travel? Probably, if she knows about them. Rose shrugged, no time like the present to tell her, and it's not like the Doctor doesn't clue people in all the time.

_"Let me guess, you save her by being reckless with your own safety and that's why the Doctor's angry and upset?"_

Rose blanked. "That's _exactly_ what happened..." Huh. Maybe, the Professor really did know them in the future.

_"This is the same as the station. He's upset because he cares and you're upset because...?"_

Rose stared at the ceiling, letting shame wash over her as she thought about it. "Because, I was protecting him and he doesn't realize that."

_"How did you protect him?"_

"The Gelth, the things that were going to kill Gwyneth. They talked about the-" Rose paused, she couldn't be sure how well the Professor knew them, and the Time War wasn't her story to tell. "-a war...the Doctor was involved in this war, and the Gelth mentioned it to prey on his sympathy. If Gwyneth died because of that then she would be just another face in his nightmares. Another guilt."

_"But if you died?"_

Rose shrugged. In all honesty, she was only half sure she could have died anyway. "Bad Wolf made me telepathic for a reason, I thought 'Maybe, this is why...To save Gwyneth'" Rose sat up and stared blankly at the art hanging from her walls. A small thought crossing her mind as she stared into the blue swirls of a galaxy teetering between nebulous gases, brushed lovingly in bright pinks and blues. "Is that selfish? That, part of me saved Gwyneth to save the Doctor?"

 _"No. I think you just want to save everyone. You have a big heart, Rose. It's what I love about you."_ Rose blushed at her words and turned her face down. As if she was hiding from the woman's gaze. _"It's what he_ _loves, too."_

"Thanks." She sighed out a long, shuddering breath and stood. "I should probably talk to him."

The Professor laughed warmly. _"Yeah, probably. Oh, and... Rose?"_

"Yeah?"

_"...never mind. Just, be patient. He's an idiot sometimes."_

Rose chuckled. "Don't I know it." She shook her head and, with one last laugh, clicked her phone shut.

Time to face the music. But first...she looked down at her poofy dress, a change of clothes was in order. She needed her battle armour.

* * *

The TARDIS was eerily quiet as she stepped into the console room. Boots clicking against the metal floor, the Doctor nowhere in sight. Rose almost released a sigh of frustration, feeling her tight jeans and leather jacket were just silly if he wasn't here to argue with. There was no point in wearing armour if you weren't going to fight. She paced around the controls, lightly brushing her fingers across the buttons she recognized did absolutely nothing; he just liked pressing them to look impressive. Rose did let out a strained chuckle.

"What're you laughing at?" The Doctor's voice reverberated from behind her, startling her. Her head whipped around and she took in his tense posture.

The Doctor's arms where crossed, in a feigned imitation of casualness, but his shoulders were tense and his question sounded clipped when she played it back in her head.

"Oh," Rose cleared her throat, a sudden dryness closing around her larynx. "No-nothing!" He raised an eyebrow and Rose sighed, turning fully to face him. "Doctor...I think we need to have that argument now." She pulled her jacket tighter around herself, now really glad for her change in clothes, she couldn't imagine doing this in that dress. 

"Argument?"

"Well," She rocked on her heels, "that's what its going to be, yeah? I mean, you're mad because I could have died and I'm mad-"

"You're mad?!" He stepped forward, a furrow to his already intense brow.

Rose scowled at his cynical tone. She crossed her arms, pulling her jacket tight across her chest, and mimicked his posture, curling her fists and digging her nails into blue leather. "Yes! Yes, _I'm mad!_ " She snapped back. "I've done nothing but help and you keep... _pushing_ me away. Those _things,"_ she spat, too angry of their violtion of her and the Doctor to even say their name. "-mention the Time War and you clam up! And then you defend them and look where it got us! I almost died, Gwyneth almost died and Mr. Sneed did!" Rose panted and then froze at the look on his face. "Oh, Doctor...I didn't..." That wasn't what she meant to say.

"I fought in that war." He closed his eyes and took a step closer.

"What?" Rose's arms fell limp.

"I fought and killed and watched many people die for that stupid war! So Rose Tyler," His voice grew dark and Rose pushed herself back into the console as his eyes flashed up, anger and contempt locked into his gaze. "-forgive me if I refuse to let the mistakes of _that_ war ruin anyone else's lives, forgive me if I feel a little guilt! Misplaced as it may be!"

Rose was rooted to her spot, her feet stuck to the grating as the Doctor's eyes burned into hers. "I..." She ruined it. She really ruined it.

Th Doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm taking you home."

"What?! No!" Rose panicked and reached for his sleeve. "You can't!"

He pulled himself out of her grip. "Oh, yes I can. My ship, my rules." With a yank he pulled the lever and sent them sprawling through space. Rose was sent to the floor, her head nearly cracking against the grate as the ship came to a sudden stop. She tried to scramble up, to stop him but he was already moving. "There, Powell Estates, London, Earth. 2005. Few minutes after we left. Go on then." He lifted her up and steered her towards the door.

He was leaving, again! Rose pushed against him and stuck an arm out to grab the TARDIS door, using it to spin in his grip. "You can't!" Tears began to slip down her face and for a moment the Doctor's face softened. And then he continue to push her through the doors, grabbing her upper arm in a tight, unrelenting grip. "Doctor, please, please...don't leave me!" She was almost shouting, an embarrassing crack echoed through her voice as her face was drenched in tears. Her makeup staining her cheeks.

"Rose!" He brought his free hand to her other arm and spun her to face him, dodging her kick to his shins with an irritated huff. "Rose! Calm yourself!" 

Rose let out a hiccup through her tears. He couldn't leave her again...he couldn't. She saw a flash of a beach, white sand and cold water. "Doctor," she whimpered.

He reached a hand up to wipe at her eyes, his own softening as he looked down at her shaking form. "Rose...I'm sorry." He shook his head and pulled abruptly away, slamming the TARDIS doors behind him. Rose stared for a moment. Not registering the TARDIS' leaving siren until she was staring at a blank street.

And then she collapsed. Face in her palms and salt water staining her clothes. Her knees bent in a cold puddle, on the freezing ground.

That's where her mum found her about an hour later.

* * *

Rose was curled up with a blanket and a mug listening to her mum rattle on about something. She felt numb to the world, faintly she could feel the burn on her tongue as she took a sip of still scalding tea. He left...he just left.

She saw brown eyes, a half human-him and him making her choose what he wanted her to choose. And then he was gone. And then human-him was gone. And she was never enough to keep either. She placed her wet face over the steam of her cup, letting the heat curl around her nose and into her red eyes. 

"-I swear that daft alien better fix this or I'll smack 'im proper this time!" Her mum's voice continued to drone-

"Alien?" Rose turned to her mum in confusion. Since when did her mum know...?

Jackie sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Yes! Your stupid alien just drops you off, crying in the street and expects me to fix the mess he made!" Jackie sat down and pulled Rose's hand towards her. "What did he do sweetie, why is my beautiful daughter looking so blue?" A gentle hand reached up and brushed across her face in a soothing, familiar motion. Jackie used to hold her and stroke her hair and face to calm her nightmares when she was little. The movement was a small comfort to the questions racing through Rose's mind.

"Since, when did you know he was an alien?" Rose looked at the calendar on the wall. _March, 2006._ Twelve months like last time. Jackie should be worried sick about where Rose was, not the alien she was travelling with. _What did Mickey say this time?_

"You told me, remember. On your last visit, I saw the box an' everything." _So, not Mickey then..._ _But if she had visited then._

Rose leaped to her feet, spilling hot tea across the floor. "He's coming back!"

"Well, of course he is! If he didn't, he knows what I would do to him." Jackie raised her hand threateningly and Rose laughed, leaping over the small table to hug her mum. "Oh! Rose, really-"Jackie pulled back. "-just what happened?"

Rose looked to the ground and tried to pull back but her mother's arms tightened around her waist. "We...we got into a fight." She shrugged. "I said something really hurtful and he threw me out." Rose wiped a hand down her face. "I thought he was going to leave forever, and I..." A sob racked through her. Jackie tutted and stood pulling her into a tight embrace. Her mum's hands rubbed up and down her back letting her sobs shake their bodies in unison. "I thought I messed up. I was told to be patient but..."

"Oh, sweetheart. Patience doesn't always mean letting them get their way just to stay close. Y'know-" she pulled back and sat down, Rose taking a seat next to her, their hands intertwined. "-once, your father and I had a row and he left for a few days. You were only a couple of weeks. I thought I lost him, but I waited, every night. And, one night, after I put you to bed, I heard a knock on the door." She smiled wistfully a tear pricking her eye. "And there was my Pete, a bushel of half-dead flowers in his hands." They both chuckled at that; Jackie from the memory and Rose from one of her own of her own version of Pete, the one where he never died. A brush of regret pushed against her, she never got to say goodbye. "So, maybe your Doctor just needs some time to simmer?"

Rose let out a watery laugh, and grin, and pulled her mum close. "Thank you."

Moments later the door burst open and the two turned to see a frazzled Doctor. "It wasn't a couple of minutes. It was twelve months."

"Oi, you git!" Rose winced at the resounding slap. 

* * *

Rose sat next to the Doctor on her roof, staring out into the sunrise. It was gorgeous, but awkward. The tension stretched between the foot of space between them. The Doctor reached a hand up against his sore cheek.

"Sorry, about that." Rose twiddled her thumbs. "You kinda deserved it though."

"Yeah, yeah I did." He brushed his hands down his legs and turned his gaze to the street below.

Silence. 

"Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother."

Rose let out a loose chuckle. "Nine hundred? Pegged you as older."

"Oi!" They both let out a laugh. Some of the tension easing at their banter.

"One hell of an age gap, no wonder we argue."

"That's on you, you should respect your elders!" He sent a stern pointed finger in her direction.

Rose simply raised an eyebrow. "Fat chance."

They smiled and turned away from each other.

"Rose-"

"Doctor-"

"Oh!"

"Sorry-"

Rose shook her head and gestured for him to speak, she had said her piece and that had gotten him to leave. Now she needed to be patient, hear him out.

The Doctor let out a long breath and turned to face her. "Rose-I...There's a lot you don't know about me." He shook his head. "Warranted, we met what? Two days ago? But...well, I've been around a while, not lying when I say nine hundred." He paused looking for her reaction. Rose would have feigned some sort of surprise if she had the energy, but instead, feeling drained from the past day she just smiled and nodded for him to continue. "Well, anyways, I've seen a lot of death and I ca-I can't have yours on my conscience too, I don't know." He turned his eyes down and then looked out across the buildings, looking anywhere but at her. "That's why-"

"You left." 

He nodded. 

Slowly, Rose reached over and placed her palm on his hand. He didn't move, but he did turn his eyes to hers. She almost got lost in their blue depths before pulling herself back. Those eyes were dangerous, especially when they were so vulnerable.

"Doctor, you can't just run away because I could get hurt. I mean I could be run over by a bus tomorrow, or electrocuted in a storm. If I die saving someone, or a whole planet even, then that's a win in my books." She looked up at him, entwining their fingers. "But, I would rather do that with you." She pulled his hand into her lap and scooted over to lean herself against his side. "I'm sorry, I freaked out when you left. Someone...really important to me did that and I thought you never would. That was selfish of me. You can leave whenever you want, just...can you promise me something?" She turned her head and looked into those vulnerable, blue eyes.

He swallowed and stared back at her. "What?"

Rose paused and traced her eyes over his face before dragging them back up to meet his. "Tell me first, tell me, honestly, if you're leaving and I'll let you go. Just don't give me false promises and hope." _Don't leave me with someone who isn't really you..._

"Rose Tyler..." He stared into her eyes and sat there in silence for a moment. She could see his eyes sparkle with astonishment and she felt herself turn red under his gaze. "You are bloody fantastic." Rose smiled at the word, her face still burning, and let him pull her into a hug. "I'm sorry I left," he mumbled into her hair. 

"It's okay." Rose breathed in the scent of leather and time. "I shouldn't have said what I said. It was rude..." 

"A bit yeah." Rose pulled back and punched his arm. "Oi! Just like your mother, you are." He reached up and put a hand to his wound, overreacting to the pain. She had seen his hand get cut off without a flinch, she was sure he was fine.

"Someone has to keep you on your toes."

"You do enough of that without all the hitting."

Rose felt her face begin to burn from all the smiling and looked up, only to catch a glimpse of a ship, trailed by smoke, falling through the sky. "Speaking of which..." She pointed up and watched the Doctor's face light up. An excited tingle began to race through her body, the call to another adventure on its way.

"Oh...fantastic!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? An update? Sorry this took so long, first my computer broke, then school, then I got sick...well, enough with the excuses. Hopefully I'm back more permanently. Maybe, I'll even put out another update this week? Who knows, thanks for all the comments and kudos!


	8. Aliens of London

Rose knew the conversation wasn't over. It felt like they were on the same page, but for the first time since everything had started Rose had begun to think. Really, truly think about what was happening, why the Doctor acted the way he did. Why had Bad Wolf made her telepathic, and why couldn’t the Doctor tell? How long would she have to hide this from him? Would it be forever...no, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t pretend forever. Right? 

She could feel her breath strain. _Oh, god._ It felt like everything was crashing down on her.

The Doctor skidded to a halt, staring dejectedly at the soldiers blocking off the street. "It's blocked off."

Rose stared at the crowds, soldiers were the least of the blockage. Cars, people, news vans, all flooding the road and walkways. She swallowed down her thoughts, pushing and shoving them into boxes until they disappeared from sight. "We're miles from the centre. The city must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down." She could still feel bile rising in her throat.

"I know. I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!"

"You sure love saying that." Rose let out a strained chuckle, swallowing it as acid burned at the back of her mouth. She turned away at his knowing look, letting him gently squeeze her hand before she pulled away. "Did you know this was going to happen?” She turned to him, already knowing the answer.

"Nope."

"Do you recognise the ship?"

"Nope."

"Do you know why it crashed?" Rose braced for the answer.

"Nope." She pursed her lips holding back a grin as he turned a manic smile towards her.

"Oh, I'm so glad I've got you." She barked out a laugh and crossed her arms. 

"What'd I say about respecting your elders?" He mimed her movements and raised an eyebrow. "This is what I travel for, Rose. To see history happening right in front of us."

"Uh huh." She raised her own brow and glanced towards the crowd. "Bit far to 'witness' any history. So...TARDIS?" She really needed to get away, maybe the TARDIS could calm her down. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Better not. They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't want to shove another one on top." He glanced around and turned back towards the estate, pulling himself up the steps. Rose rolled her eyes, _yeah, that won't last long._

With a shake, Rose followed behind, tamping down the disappointment of being forced into an enclosed space further from the ship. "So, what? We jus' gonna watch the telly?" The Doctor turned with an answering grin and Rose leaned against the railing. "Really?" 

* * *

Rose watched fondly as the Doctor wrestled with Ru Chan's youngest for the remote, the channel flipping from the news to Blue Peter in quick succession. Behind them, her mum stood with her group of friends, decidedly ignoring the alien crisis in favour of the most recent Estate gossip. From what Rose could gather, her mum was dating Billy Crewe, _that wouldn't last long,_ Ru's oldest was off to college, and some new drama had broken out between the neighbours.

"What do you think, Rose?"

Rose hummed in response, still watching the Doctor.

"Well, hopefully it's nothing like the row you had. Don' need anymore lovers quarrels." Ru snorted, directing her attention to Rose.

Rose glanced at the woman in shock. "What?"

Ru shifted as Jackie sent her a glare. "Well, I just mean..." The woman's eyes blew wide under the harsh stares of mother and daughter. "Oh, come off it! As if you don't remember what happened between her an' Mickey."

Rose turned in her seat, twisting at the waist to stare directly at the two older women. Her mother had the decency to look away. "What happened with Mickey?"

"Your ‘little’ argument, that’s what. We could hear from half-way across the Estate."

Rose stared incredulously. Mickey and she hadn't argued when she left...but she supposed the Doctor would take her to visit her mum in the year she had missed, maybe she said something? She could feel a headache burning behind her eyes. Why was her timeline so jumbled this time? 

Jackie pulled at Ru's arm. "Oh, no need to remind everyone about that. What's Bev been up to-haven't seen her in a while."

Rose, grateful for her mum's distraction, began to tune out the conversation, meeting the Doctor's eyes over Kei's head. She just shrugged her shoulders and drew her brows together in contemplation. Why had she argued with Mickey? She supposed it could be over their break-up, she hadn’t stuck around to listen to his protests-too eager to leave with the Doctor. A part of her knew that was unfair to Mickey, she had said he deserved better, hadn’t she. 

Rose slumped into her chair. Obviously whatever she changed would have the Doctor take her back to see her mum and Mickey would be there. Livid with her. She wasn’t looking forward to it, but hopefully it had cleared the air. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too miffed to help them later. Her teeth clenched. She was supposed to see him tonight, after the Doctor left. But she wasn’t ready for him to go off with her again, the idea dropped lead in her stomach. She looked at him.His arms were wrapped loosely around Kei's midsection, the boy leaning against the leather clad chest of the Doctor. 

_He was a father._

Another half-told story hidden from their relationship like some dirty secret. He was right, she didn’t know him and she supposed he no longer knew her. Who she was, who she is now. She couldn’t let him leave alone, because she had so much to make up for.

Rose traced her eyes down his face, the light of the telly a soft glow against his hard features. A sad smile pulled at her lips. She forgot how easily these moments slipped away. Sure, this might be the second time this happened to her, but so much of her memory was clouded by running and hugging and getting thrown in jail. She had begun to forget the softer, rarer moments. Especially the ones with this face, and blue eyes. 

She pulled her brows together, summoning the memories that laid dormant in her active mind, the ones she only recalled in the late hours of the night. If she didn’t change too much he would start reading to her as she painted. A small comfort after their encounter with the Dalek.

A shiver pressed into her spine.

She dimly recalled how she wouldn’t pay attention to the prose lolling across his tongue, instead, she savoured the feelings he elicited as his deep accent rounded across the words of a thousand authors and poets. Rose felt a well of somberness at the creeping memories, the details fuzzy and faded but the emotions...That’s when she had begun to realize she had fallen for him. Those small moments, stacked on top of each other in a small corner of a library, brief and quiet and calm. When he had changed she never thought the bundle of energy he had become would ever settle down. She had mourned for their nights in the library, but, to her surprise, one night he showed up at her door a sheepish smile and a book in one hand. It wasn’t the Sycorax that had made her think of him as her Doctor, it was that quiet night they spent together, a new tongue lolling over ever word as he tested them in his mouth. 

They hadn’t had those moments yet, and Rose longed for them. Sitting there, watching him gently hold Kei as the two stared at the TV screen with rapture, made her want to skip everything about their adventures, about rewriting time. Why couldn’t she just relieve those memories? She knew, of course. The adventures were half of their lives, half of her soul, she would miss them too much and he would go genuinely mad at the idea of sitting still. She let out a small chuckle, well, he would go even more mad than he already was.

She met his eyes again, briefly as he cocked his head at the sound of her accidental laugh. In response, she just shook her head, eyes crinkling with a light joy as he shifted, carefully adjusting his hold on the toddler in his lap. She had to bite her lip and look at the screen.

It was unfair how well it suited him.

She once said she hated kids, well, it wasn’t entirely true, she had just never thought of being a mum. It never sat right with her, having someone's kid. She could feel her face twisting in a sour expression. Especially when she was already helping raise the Estate kids. Kei, Laura, Johnny, Emma...She loved them and yes, they were annoying, but they were her kids, at least until she left. So when the Isolus began snatching kids as their playmates she had been angry and said she found kids annoying and rude and gross, and probably a bunch of other things she didn’t quite mean at the time. She can’t even remember if she told the Doctor that, maybe it was just another thing they thought could go unsaid. Even after they...After they promised forever.

But that was far off, more than a year. And she was here and now, with an old Doctor and a new her. She brushed her hand against her temple. Another thing left unsaid. 

Her eyes drifted back to where the Doctor sat, however, instead of the enraptured expression of the Time Lord she saw Kei. Alone. 

Rose shot up and raced out the door, ignoring her mum calling after her.

The cool March air nipped at her skin as she burst through the door. Frantically, her eyes scanned down the stairs to see a guilty looking alien staring up at her. His hand braced against the slick steel of the escape.

Rose rubbed her arms and leaned against her flat door attempting a casual look and failing. She was sure her hair was standing up in barely contained fury and anxiety. "And where do you think you're going?" _Trying to run off…_ Her brain supplied. She shrugged off the thought and forced herself to breathe. In and out. He did this last time, and he still came back. He’d even given her a key. She unconsciously reached up to her neck, feeling uselessly at bare skin.

"Nowhere." He glanced behind him, clearly looking for the TARDIS. _For an escape_. "It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all."

Rose sighed. "Doctor-" _Come on,_ Rose knew he was better than this, never mind what he had originally done, it was different now. Now it felt like she couldn’t breathe when he wasn’t around. She spent so much time without him, looking for him. He had to know he couldn’t leave...she paused. At least, _not without a proper goodbye._ She shook her head, _he wasn’t going to leave for good,_ she reminded herself. Still, her mind reeled and her heart raced.The Doctor sighed, oblivious to the raging storm inside Rose’s mind. "I know." He tilted his head down in shame and scratched behind his left ear at the base of his skull. She followed the movement, unable to focus on anything until he said,. "Alright, Rose-" He reached out a hand. "-care to wander with me?"

A flood of relief coursed through her body. Rose tried to hide it from her face, but he looked down in shame again as she took his hand. She gave him a sheepish smile and let him pull her to the TARDIS.

The TARDIS was quiet. Not just when she landed, which was relatively quiet and Rose thanked the girl for the stealthy landing before brushing a comforting hand down a coral strut. But even then, the girl didn’t respond. only a soft hum signifying she had felt Rose’s gratitude. Rose looked at the Doctor but he had already begun to sweep out of the door and into the closet he had landed them in. She raised an eyebrow.

Rose stepped towards him as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver, shushing it as it buzzed. Rose held back a giggle but looked at the TARDIS. The ship’s hum low and distant.

“Doctor?” She whispered, ignoring his replying shush. “Is something wrong with the TARDIS?”

He stopped his movements, flicking off the screwdriver to turn to her. “What do you mean?”

“Well, she’s...quiet.” She didn’t quite know how to phrase it, the ship was _off._ Like she was upset. Rose shook her head. “She feels different.”

The Doctor’s eyes darted to her forehead. An understanding look passed over his face. “That’s another thing…” He murmured before turning away. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, louder this time. “We just had an argument, she didn’t want to…” He flinched and began to work on the door again.

“Leave?” Rose supplied.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “That.”

She didn’t think that was entirely the case. Rose rocked on her heels, unsure whether to ask him what was running through her mind. Ultimately, she decided, the worst he would do is lie. “How long were you gone...on your side, I mean.” 

His shoulders tensed. “I-” He sighed and looked over his shoulder at her. “I- couple hours, maybe.” He ducked his head. “Rose, I really am sorry-”

“I know.” She interrupted and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know. It’s...well it’s not okay, not yet.” He nodded his head and moved to turn, but she pulled at his shoulder, forcing him to stop. “Hey, I get it. We’ll figure this out together, right?” She pressed her face into his shoulder. His arm came around her in a light embrace. _Not a promise…_ But it was enough for now.

Then a scream broke through the air forcing them apart. 

Frantically, the Doctor unlocked the door, wrenching it open before he took off down the hall.

Rose stood, dumbly, for a moment before her brain caught up and she dashed after him down the corridor. He slowed enough to let her catch up and grab his hand. Together, they sped down the hall following the screams and frantic crashing. 

Rose felt the rumble of footsteps before she heard them. A group of Red Berets turned down the hall, weapons raised. They met outside the mortuary, automatically Rose and the Doctor raised their hands. Another crash interrupted the soldiers before they could question them. The Doctor took his chance, and Rose watched in a stunned silence as he barked orders at the men before tugging her after him into the dimly lit room.

Rose glanced around, her shoulders raised. The room gave her chills, a modern version of Sneed’s morgue. With white walls… She took a shuddering breath. White walls...

A whimper pulled Rose’s attention.

A small Asian woman in a lab coat sat cowering in the corner of the room behind a chair. The pathologist. Rose looked her over, cautiously assessing the woman for injuries. Seemingly she had none but a small swipe of blood across her forehead. Rose stepped towards the woman, blocking out the image of white, reaching down for her. "It's alive!" The woman cried pointing aimlessly to the rest of the room as Rose gently pulled her to her feet, checking her head for the source of the blood. Rose sighed when she spied only a small cut and quickly guided the woman to a chair. "My god. It's still alive." Rose quickly scavenged for supplies as the Doctor barked orders at the soldiers, their marching footsteps receding down the halls. 

"Aha!" Rose exclaimed to herself as she grabbed a small health kit and pried it open snatching out bandages and cloth to work on the woman's cut. Gently as she could, she leaned over the woman, looking her in the eye with a warm smile. "Hi, I'm Rose." She began softly,gesturing over her shoulder to the Doctor. "That's my friend, the Doctor. We're here to help." She showed her the cloth and bandages, holding them in front of her face. 

"What's your name?" Slowly, and as carefully as she could, she swiped at the woman's head, dabbing away at the fresh blood to reveal a fresh cut. It looked shallow, barely more than a scratch. Rose exhaled a relieved breath.. 

The woman flinched as the cloth touched her face, as the alcohol stung at her wound. Rose sent her an apologetic look and, slowly, she relaxed into her hands. "Toshiko Sato. My friends call me Tosh. But-I..." A clang sounded behind them, Rose turned expecting the Doctor to have dropped something, instead he stood with his sonic raised at a dark corner of the room. A filing cabinet shook. Tosh stared in horror as the hollow metal clanged against the floor.

"It's still here." He turned over his shoulder at them. "Rose?"

She nodded and swept to the side of the cabinet as the Doctor flanked its other side. It shook again. Their eyes met before they both leaned down. A heated anticipation as the cabinet slowly stopped its rocking and crashing. 

The Doctor reached out, flinching back as a squeal erupted from behind the thing. Then he pushed the cabinet aside and Rose gasped. A small pig-headed creature cowered behind it. It was tiny and weirdly shaped, it’s head squeezed out of a fake space suit causing folds in its neck and a vaguely human shape to its body. Rose stared in shock.

"Oh... hello." She pulled herself out of it, thinking of the poor thing. How terrified it must be. Rose reached her hand out attempting to soothe the frightened pig. For a second it worked, the pig's hands-paws, hooves?-lowered to uncover its eyes and it looked up at her. Bright, watery eyes stared into hers and Rose placed her hand on his head. The smooth skin trembled as it shivered. Rose felt her heart constrict as she ran her thumb in small circles across its forehead.

The creature froze and stared into her eyes. And then, he leaned in. Just as a gunshot sounded.

Rose flinched barely able to move back as the pig jumped, swiped at her outstretched hand, and scurried out of the room.

"Agh!" She clutched her hand to her chest as her head whipped around to follow him, her eyes falling on a panicked soldier standing aiming his weapon down the hall. Rose leapt across the room grabbing the man before he could fire again and hit the poor pig. "Don't shoot!" Her heart raced in her chest, pounding against her lungs, beating the breath out of her. “Please, don’t…” The man gave her a strange look but Rose ignored him, instead following the Doctor with her eyes as he raced past.

She could faintly hear the Doctor echo her words into the hall but it was too late. Rose shut her eyes tight, gripping the Red Beret’s arm in a crushing fist as a series of blasts reverberated down the corridor. A tiny squeal of pain. And then silence.

Rose whimpered and let go of the man. She clutched her scratched hand to her chest and turned to Tosh, the woman shaking worse than before, a dazed look in her eyes. 

"What did you do that for?" The Doctor yelled from the hall. "It was scared! It was scared-" Rose let out a small sob. She shook her head. She should’ve been able to stop that. Stop them. She dug her nails into her palm, pushing into the cut until a small pool of blood dripped onto the spotless floor. Tosh stared at her. As did the soldier. 

Steadily as she could manage, Rose released the pressure on her palm and stepped towards Tosh, loosely wrapping a bandage on her own hand before turning back to the scientist. Tosh gave her a concerned look, eyes blown wide darting between her face at the blood. Rose plastered on a false smile and began to methodically wrap the bandage across Tosh’s wound, fussing with the edges, trying to tape it straight. She couldn't think about the creature.

 _I_ _t was scared..._ Rose could feel frustration rise in her as the tape stuck to her hand, then the bandage had to fray from her fussing. She groaned and flung the bandage down grabbing a new one to start the process over again.

"Why are you crying?" 

"What?" Rose looked up. She pulled a hand to her face, for the first time noticing the dampness that had begun to collect on her nose and cheeks. “Oh.” She drew a sleeve across her eyes, the rough fabric scraping at the sore, red skin.

Tosh paused looking at first to the soldier, who stood awkwardly in the corner, and then to Rose. She placed a hand on Rose’s stopping her motion. "That alien-"

"It wasn't an alien." The Doctor interrupted stomping into the room with a furious huff. "Just an ordinary pig, made to look alien." He turned to the two women and sighed at Rose's teary eyes, eyes softening as she turned to him. "And she's crying because she has a heart." His words were clipped and aimed at Tosh.

The woman looked bashful at his remark, uncomfortable with how he had clearly heard them from the hall, and glanced towards the floor, removing her hand from Rose's. 

Rose just smiled weakly, hoping it looked like a half apology for his anger. "Sorry about him. He's just rude when he's figuring things out." Rose paused and glanced at the pacing alien, clearly waiting for her to finish up. "Actually, he's just rude." She shrugged and smiled when Tosh let out a slight chuckle.

"Oi!"

 _"Rude and not ginger."_ Rose mumbled to herself. She quickly finished up Tosh’s patching and moved to put the bandages away.

Tosh laughed and looked up at Rose before her eyes drifted to the scratch on Rose's hand. "I meant to say, that alien, or pig... I guess, it hurt you. So why..." She gestured to her eyes.

Rose paused her movements, bandages half stuffed in the emergency kit. She almost asked what kinda of question that was, but then she turned it over in her mind. Of course Toshiko would ask her why she was sad the thing that hurt her was dead. Tosh hadn’t seen the fear in its eyes, only the fear in her own.

"Well, he was scared." She looked at the cabinet, knocked to the ground from the animal's desperate attempt to escape. "He didn't mean anything by it." Just a desperate animal trying to escape. She shrugged and gave up fiddling with the case in favour of turning to Tosh and giving her a brief hug. "It was nice meeting you." Then she backed up and looked to the Doctor.

The woman looked up in shock. "Wait! Where are you going?"

The Doctor simply looked to Rose before taking her good hand. "To solve a mystery." And with that he dragged her off and down the corridor to the awaiting TARDIS. He pulled her away from the crowd of soldiers, forcing her under his arm. She shot him a grateful look as soon as they stepped into the TARDIS.

The Doctor didn’t respond, simply plopped her onto a seat and quickly parked the TARDIS in the vortex before pulling Rose's hand into his lap, palm face up. Rose started at the action. She watched as he slowly peeled the bandage back, revealing a surprisingly shallow cut. Rose almost pulled her hand away, they had other things to worry about, but the tightness in his eyes stopped her. Instead she waited, gritting through the familiar stitching sensation of the atoms in her skin pulling and bonding under the bright blue light of his sonic. It was a slow process, nothing like the dermal regenerator in the med bay. Rose was grateful for it, allowing herself to study his expression and calm the sadness lingering in her mind.

He was tense, and mad. But not at her. She could see that in the tender way he held her. He was angry at the death of an innocent creature. Rose had to look away, guilt settling in her chest and tears pricking, once again, at her eyes. She hadn’t known of course, and she could feel the TARDIS, upset as she was, wash a gentle hum over her. Still, she felt useless, like she should have made a difference.

She heard the sonic switch off. A silence stretched out in the ship, her voice had gone weak in Rose’s mind, enough that the normal ambiance had grown into a steady, unsettling quiet. The Doctor swiped a finger across her newly healed palm before he stood to fiddle at the ship’s controls. 

Rose felt the TARDIS back away from the console, pulling herself further from her heart. She arched a brow.

“What really happened?” Rose gasped and placed a hand over her lips as the Doctor turned.

“What?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean-” She stopped as he shook his head, Rose sighed. “-I just...she’s not in here.” She pointed to the floor. “The TARDIS? She left when you moved to the console…” Rose glanced up to his shocked expression.

He looked to her head. “How?”

Rose shrugged. “I don’t know, she’s jus’ been in my head. It’s like-” She thought how best to explain it. The TARDIS was just there, in her head. She had been since before she came back, but it was clearer now. A side-effect of Bad Wolf, she assumed. “-I can see her if I think hard enough. Like, not a person...a presence or a feeling. Like she’s always been there, just waiting for me to meet her…” She quirked her lips and stroked the coral. "But, she's not in here." She gestured to the room.

The Doctor had gone utterly silent and still. He stared at her hand, his mouth quirked open and his brown raised. Slowly, he brought his arms up and crossed them as his brow furrowed. Instead of answering her question he surprised her, “Why...I can’t feel you. Even when we touch…” He brought his hand up. “I should be able to feel you.” 

Rose stared in shock for a moment, attempting to formulate a response. Luckily, she didn't need to.

Rose felt the TARDIS rush back into the room. Judging by the Doctor’s reaction he felt it too. The presence of the ship layering thick across their minds as she hummed a soft song. Rose couldn’t understand it. The TARDIS speaking in a language Rose could only assume was Gallifreyan.

A slow realization dawned on the Doctor’s face, his blue eyes flashing with a flurry of emotions until they finally settled on a deep resignation.

“Doctor?”

Rose stood and reached for him. Helplessly.

He turned. “It’s-” He sighed drawing his shoulders up. “Later,” he supplied.

Rose sent a question to the TARDIS but once again she was silent, still in the room, but distant. Unhappy. Rose felt the emotions ricocheting from the Doctor to the TARDIS to her. It was suffocating. She pushed into the ships presence attempting to shove it away from her with a silent apology. She needed to think.

"So the ship was obviously real-" She started. Again, he needed to be distracted and so she would supply it. Briefly she wondered if that’s why he ran so often, for the distraction. Or maybe that's why he had companions. She placed the thought away in her growing list of ‘later conversations’. The list was getting too long for her liking. It seemed their conversation on the roof hadn’t really solved much.

"Obviously?" The Doctor paced around the ship, fiddling with buttons and knobs. 

"-obviously." She followed his movements, mirroring them from the other side of the console."But the pig was fake. So why are aliens faking aliens?" She leaned against the console, and watched the Doctor complete his turn until he was facing her. He raised his brow as she leaned back to hop up, settling onto the cool metal. She smiled sheepishly and swung her legs, her foot brushing against his jeans.

He rolled his eyes and stepped into her space. His cool heat pressing into hers. "Good point. I don't know." Rose leaned forward, even sitting on the console her head only came to just under his nose. She raked her eyes over his sharp features and raised a hand to smooth them back. He let her.

“You really can’t feel me?” Her voice lowered into a whisper.

He drew in a breath.

“No.” He copied her, lowering his voice. Not moving into her hand but not flinching away. “Can you feel me?”

“No.” She traced her fingers down his jaw. His icy eyes locked onto hers. With a shudder she pulled back. He was just, empty. Blank. Like he was just a normal human. She almost laughed. Years ago it would have been her in his spot, her head empty and quiet, unfiltered thoughts loose in the air without a telepathic receptacle to communicate them through. She closed her eyes, reaching out to an invisible presence. “No, nothing.” She wondered why that was. Clearly the TARDIS had said something to him, but was it the truth. What if it had something to do with her? She panicked slightly at the thought. He was so starved for connection, he had told her how empty he felt when the Time Lords died. She could only imagine how fresh that wound was.

She opened her eyes to see a pensive expression on his face, his eyes focused on hers. They each took in a simultaneous breath. She shuddered, afraid to break the moment.

The Doctor pulled himself back first. He gave her a sad smile and patted her leg. “Hop off. I wasn’t just fiddling.”

Rose hesitated before doing as he said, looking over his shoulder as he pulled at the controls and moved the screen to point up at him. She watched as he relaxed but she felt herself tense as her mind replayed the closeness she felt to him. She shook her head and paced the room, trying to run off the unsettling energy she felt. She didn't have to wait long for the Doctor to break the silence.

"Got it!” He let out a laugh and Rose jumped. “Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go. Hold on. Come on." Rose smirked as he danced around his controls. It was so much like the next him, she felt a nervous bubble in her stomach. He tugged her toward the monitor as he rambled. "That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except.” He paused waiting for the screen to catch up with his mind. Rose watched as the ship swung around the Earth, her brain trying to understand why that was important. “Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."

Rose leaned forward as the screen repeated the image. Rose rolled her thoughts over each other. The Slitheen had faked the crash, so the ship... "It originated from Earth?" She hoped that’s what he had said last time.

"Exactly! Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?"

Rose shrugged and felt the TARDIS pull at her. She reached for another screen, popping it up and turning it to the news. "How many channels do you get?" She said absentmindedly, her gaze focused on the reporter.

"All the basic packages. Why...?" He turned to face her pausing as he saw the screen. "Hold on, I know that lot."

_" It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space."_

"UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce." He clarified. "Good people."

Rose almost nodded in agreement before catching herself. _Right_ , she's gotta play innocent human. For a moment she had let herself forget. "You know them?" He had explained before, so had Sarah Jane over many of their conversations. He had worked for them for some time while stuck on Earth. She didn't know much about it, just that they were better than Torchwood in her books. They actually liked him.

He shrugged. "Used to work for them.” He looked to her with a dead serious expression. “I was banished back then."

 _" Banished?_ _"_ That was new. Rose had to blink several times.

"Well, more like I was in Time Lord time-out." He shrugged and turned throwing the TARDIS into a rough landing. “They called it an exile.”

"So," Rose moved to follow, switching off the screen as she walked by. Her mind racing. "Are we going to help them?" _He was exiled? Why?_ Actually, she could guess. Still, he had never mentioned that. Neither had Sarah Jane. _Weird._

"They wouldn't recognise me. I've changed a lot since the old days.” And again he hints at regeneration. Rose wondered if he really had tried to tell her before he had died. She shook her head. “Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. I'm going undercover. And er, I'd better keep the TARDIS out of sight." He moved to pull the doors open but Rose intercepted him.

She needed to at least understand one thing. Have him tell her _one_ thing."You said that before."

"What?"

"On the station, you looked surprised at your reflection. As if you've never seen your face, but you're hundreds of years old. What gives?" She braced herself against the door. Ready to stand firm.

The Doctor huffed and pulled at her arms, lifting her up and away from the doors. _Stupid Time Lord strength._ She huffed. "You're a nosy one, Rose Tyler."

"Just want to know who I'm travelling with." She shrugged. _And I want you to trust me with this stuff._

He released a breath through his nose and glanced between her and the doors. "I'll tell you some other time, okay?"

“Doctor, how many ‘later’ conversations are we going to have?” She sighed.

“Rose, I promise. We can talk later, about your telepathy and...anything else.” She clenched her jaw at his wording. “Let’s just stop an invasion first, okay?”

She nodded, and shrugged him off, moving to open the doors.

A light blinded her as a gust of wind whipped at her hair. A large squadron of police cars surrounded them on all sides, and a helicopter droned on overhead. The noise was almost stifling. Rose groaned. “Great, just great.” Of course, she would forget about their _wonderful_ escort. She shared a look with the Doctor as they raised their hands.An officer shouted over the noise. "Raise your hands above your head. You are under arrest."

The Doctor grinned. "Take me to your leader."


	9. Aliens of London: Downing Street

The ride to Downing Street was quiet. Rose could barely contain herself from sneaking a glance to the man on her right. The Doctor, for his part, had occupied himself looking out into the crowding streets, the car moving at such a snail's pace that his leg had started to jitter. Rose excused his distance as room for her own bubbling thoughts. Once again, she found herself reworking her last go around, trying to figure out how to tell the Doctor about the Slitheen before they ever get locked in the conference room. It was already too late to save the officials Margaret and her kin had killed to use as suits, and Rose paled at the image of them peeling the human faces away from their monstrous forms. She could find vinegar, kill Margaret before the nuke could ever be launched. She could feel a distant protest from the TARDIS.

Rose sighed. She just wanted an easy solution so she could finally just talk with the Doctor, force him to explain everything without a ship crashing or an invasion starting, but the old girl was right. They had given Margaret another chance, well, the TARDIS had at any point. And that was the reason Rose even knew about the heart of the TARDIS, and how Bad Wolf was created. 

She paused at the thought. 

She hadn't even thought that far ahead. Would she still need to become Bad Wolf? Maybe, she could convince the Doctor to go nowhere near the Game Station; if she never goes with him to the Platform when it was still a news outlet-No. All those people would be trapped. Rose shook her head and traced her hand lightly over her freshly healed cut. She couldn't prevent any of that. 

The TARDIS let out a distant sigh as the car inched further and further away.

Rose let out an answering huff and turned to the Doctor, her companion in silence. She tried to smile, opening her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Instead she sat, looking like a gaping fish as she tried to come up with something to say. But the exhaustion of their earlier half-conversations and the incident with the pig left her speechless. 

The Doctor, however, saved her the inopportunity of breaking the ice by turning. "10 Downing Street," he said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Rose stared at him rather dumbly, confused by the abrupt break of silence.

He answered with a nod to the soldier driving the vehicle. "They're bringing us to Downing Street, in case that's what you were going to ask." He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Oh." _Oh._ Rose forgot she wasn't supposed to know what was happening. She glanced at the Doctor, a look of confusion plastered across his face. "I...I'm guessing they need you? Those UNIT guys?" She hoped to sound unsure. It seemed her questions alleviated the small suspicion the Doctor may have had and he relaxed back into his seat with a nod.

"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge. And who's the biggest expert of the lot?" 

"Me?" Rose said with a smirk.

The Doctor let out a loose laugh, and Rose relaxed, slightly, into her seat. "Of course. I'm just here to be pretty." He batted his eyelashes at her.

Rose blushed thinking of their earlier conversation in the TARDIS. His heat still pressed against her front. She cleared her throat and gave him a tongue in teeth grin, hoping to cover her blush. “I’d say you’re doing a good job.”

She smiled even wider when she saw an answering red dust his own cheeks. The Doctor didn’t respond for a moment, simply looked out the window and pointed at the street. "We're almost there."

Rose turned with eager apprehension and then let out a disappointed sigh at the sight of the reporters, cameras flashing in their hands.

_Come on, Rosie! How else are you going to remember us?_

Rose swallowed and closed her eyes. 

Jack. 

He was so insistent on taking photos of her and the Doctor. Maybe he always knew he would have to leave. She sighed as the car came to a stop.

“Don’t like pictures?” The Doctor turned to her. Rose slowly opened her eyes and looked to him.

She smiled sadly. “No, I do. Just not…” She gestured to the reporters. “It’s….”

"Too impersonal?" He supplied and Rose felt a grateful swell in her chest. 

"Yeah, too impersonal." 

The Doctor gave her a grin and winked before he strutted out, grabbing the reporters attention. Rose stared in shock before giggling and following after, her head pressed down as she walked quickly into the daunting building ahead.

When the Doctor had finally finished his posturing he jogged up to meet her. Rose had barely contained her laugh and had to school her features before she could turn to him. When she had she beamed up at him, and took his hand. “Thanks for that.”

He didn’t answer, apart from a light squeeze of her hand, before a smaller, darker skinned man interrupted them.

“You the Doctor?” The man asked, barely waiting for their answering nods. He pulled out a tag from his side and thrust it towards the Doctor. "Here's your ID card. I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance." The man gave her a smile, as if in apology.

Rose almost rolled her eyes. It was frustrating. Standing next to the most brilliant man in the world could get tiring, especially when everyone thought you were just his 'companion' for when he got 'bored'. She shuddered at the thought and remembered the brief , but scathing, hint by Sarah Jane when they had meant. 

Rose sighed and squeezed the Doctor’s hand as she glanced around the room. She had to be smart about this, and, she reminded herself, sometimes it was a good thing when no one noticed if you disappeared. She mentally smirked as she spied Harriet Jones scampering around.

"That's okay, I'm sure I'll find something to do." She kept her eyes on the woman and had moved to pull away when the Doctor tugged on her arm.

"Are you sure? I could pull some strings.." He didn't look too sure about that, whatever sway he could have had with UNIT was probably long gone by now.

Rose smiled. "Somehow, I doubt that." She paused and then, "I'll be fine, you go." She needed to speak to Harriet. Go about things they way they happened last time until she could figure things out.

The Doctor stood, looking into her eyes for a moment as if contemplating something. 

The assistant cleared his throat, "If I may, sir." 

"Right," he drew in a breath and shook his head. The Doctor gave Rose one last squeeze and turned to the man. "Lead the way."

As the two disappeared through a doorway, into a room no doubt filled with people not prepared for what was about to happen, Rose was tapped lightly on the shoulder by a very frazzled Harriet Jones.

She started. Harriet was so _different._

"Excuse me," Harriet spoke to her in a quiet voice, her eyes darting from side to side frantically. Unconfident, unsure. She had never been in a position of authority before and her voice, quiet as a mouse, spoke volumes of her ill-prepared state. "Was that the Doctor?"

If Rose didn’t know any better she would say this Harriet was a completely different person than the Prime Minister that would soon take office. Where Harriet was currently terrified, the PM would be confident and stern. And Ruthless. 

Rose paused. There was no guarantee that Harriet would make the same mistake this time, and she had redeemed herself in the end.

Rose squared her shoulders, no time to dwell on the past(future). “Yes, but I can help. I-" She searched for an appropriate term. “I’m his partner-I work with him.”

Harriet gave her a frantic searching look. A hint of an analytic woman peering through the lens of insecurity. Whatever she was looking for she seemed to have found as she nodded and looked over her shoulder with widened eyes, before clutching a shaking hand to Rose's arm. 

"Walk with me. Just keep walking." 

Rose followed the older woman without hesitation, although, with the way Harriet gripped her she didn't have much of a choice. The two paced down a carpeted hallway, Harriet glancing nervously around every corner until she felt they were far enough away to speak.

"This partner of yours, he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?" 

Rose extracted her arm from Harriet’s vice grip and shook out her hand before answering. "Uh, yeah. I'd say we both are.” She had spent years travelling with the Doctor, and, if you counted her dimension jumps, even longer alone. “What happened Harriet?"

The woman broke down in a sob. Rose immediately reached for her, wrapping a hand around her upper arm to support her weight. The woman pointed a quivering hand to the door behind them. It was the cabinet room. Where Harriet had found the body of the Prime Minister. 

Rose shuddered and pulled Harriet closer to her.

"What happened?"

Harriet pulled back and stood on her trembling legs, stumbling into the room and knocking into the table staring directly at the cupboard. "They turned the body into a suit. A disguise for the thing inside!"

Rose braced herself. Slowly she walked over to the cupboard and pried it open, closing her eyes and swallowing as a body hit the ground with a limp thud. The Prime Minister lay at her feet, a blank expression plastered on his face. Rose turned away from the sight, bile rising in her throat.

“Alright, we need to...to-” She swallowed. _Shit,_ what could she do? The Slitheen had already taken the Prime Minister, and the Doctor was unaware of their plans. If she could get to him, without Harriet, say she overheard one of them…

Before she could even formulate a plan to leave Harriet, the assistant from before stumbled into the room blabbering on about Harriet until he shrieked. Rose winced.

"Oh, my God!" The man exclaimed, his voice trembling at the sight. Rose stepped in front of the Prime Minister drawing the man’s attention to her, and regrettably away from the woman stepping in behind him.

Rose gasped. It was Margaret. 

"Oh," the Slitheen hissed a smile curled onto her fake lips. She stepped daintily over the doorway, betraying the true nature of her monstrous form. "Has someone been naughty?"

The man ignored her, instead staring at the floor behind Rose. "That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!" 

Rose backed towards Harriet, grabbing the woman's hand. They needed to get out, before Margaret killed them and...She glanced to the assistant, _oh-_ she remembered him. Rose felt her heart jump to her throat.

"And who told you that, hmm? Me," Margaret spoke to the oblivious audience, a smile curling at her lips. Finally, the man turned to see her reach into her hairline and pull a barely visible seam. Her fake skin fell loose around sickly green skin. A bright, glowing, blue light shone from the open suit as a horrid stench filled the room and Margaret's form slinked out of her false body. 

Rose gagged at the sight. The pale green skin and long arms were covered in a slick mucus. Her arms ended in three long, uncut nails, the keratin cracked and stained an ugly brown. Her fat, wrinkled body contorted as she released a long hiss from her perpetually open jaw. 

Rose gripped Harriet's hand and yanked her. "Run!" She threw the woman forward past the Slitheen. Swiftly, she ducked under the Slitheens slashing claws and grabbed the assistent, pulling him out and down the hall. Rose slowed her running as the man began to pick up his own pace, allowing him to dash ahead. Rose felt a stab of guilt at the sight of his frantic steps, she hadn’t even known his name, the first time.

Rose slid to a halt behind Harriet and the man, a group of Slitheen stood in front of them. Rose looked to the elevator behind them, and a small smile crossed her face. Even as her companions began to quiver in front of her.

Right on time, the door dinged open to show a smiling Doctor. "Hello!" He waved at Rose, pulling the attention of the Slitheen to him.

Rose yanked Harriet and the assistant in front of her and down the hall into a sitting room.

"Hide!" Harriet cried ducking behind a screen. The assistant raced to the cabinet placing himself behind it with an incredible flexibility. Rose almost applauded the man. Rose dove for the screen and jostled with Harriet before squeezing behind the curtain, gripping the cloth in her hands in preparation.

The silence was deafening.

Staggered breaths of air, pulled into starving lungs broke the still air as the three of them attempted to control their fear. But as the silence drew on the anticipation grew. And when the Slitheen finally crashed into the room with a guttural laugh, Rose could only hope the other two had pressed their palms to their lips. 

"Oh, such fun. Little human children, where are you? Sweet little humeykins, come to me. Let me kiss you better. Kiss you with my big, green lips." Margaret paced across the floor with long, heavy strides. Her breath permeated the air forcing Rose to choke in a breath. 

The curtain skewed Rose's sight, she was virtually blind. But the unmistakable steps of two more Slitheens stomping into the room was hard to conceal. The stench worsened. Rose felt like she was choking on every breath she inhaled. She counted to ten in her head and released a breath. She could hear them drawing closer, Margaret's taunting becoming louder and louder as she snaked across the room.

"A ripe youngster, all hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before she snaps." Rose steadied herself. A large claw gripped the curtain and yanked it out of her grip revealing the ugly, twisted face of the Slitheen. 

Rose stared at the monster as she hissed spit and mucus into her face. Swallowing her fear, Rose stood and stared into her inky black eyes.

"Oooo," Margaret crooned. "This one has spirit!"

The door slammed open and Rose yanked the curtain down onto Margaret. She dashed past the hissing creatures, grabbing Harriet along the way. 

"Out, with me!" The Doctor called, spraying the Slitheen with CO2. Rose let him pull her from Harriet and down the hall back to the very cabinet room they began in. "Who the hell are you?" He called back to their companions.

Harriet, predictably, answered, " Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North,” pulling out her ID as she ran.

The assistant piped up from behind them, “Ganesh! We met earlier.” Rose smiled at the man, glad to finally know his name.

"Nice to meet you." The Doctor called back as he chucked his fire extinguisher at the pursuing Slitheen. “Again.” He added for Ganesh.

"Likewise."

The Doctor stopped in the middle of a crossroads, looking down both sides. "We need to head to the Cabinet Room."

Harriet perked up. "The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens."

"Harriet Jones, I like you." Rose grimaced, remembering the intense anger in his new brown eyes the last time they had met. Rose looked to the woman a conflicted sense of pride and fear for the woman swelling in her.

Harriet smiled, oblivious to Rose's thoughts, and pointed down the right corridor. "I like you too."

As they burst into the Cabinet room the Doctor swiped a decanter quickly turning to their pursuers with a sharp look in his eyes. He raised the sonic threateningly and pointed it to the glass. "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off." Rose had to admit, the lie was kinda pathetic compared to some of his others, but she stood firm by his side sending the Slitheen a stern 'he'll do it' look.

The aliens took his warning and backed up beyond the door. 

"Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens." Rose rolled her eyes at Ganesh’s immediate reply.

"Yes. I got that, thanks." 

The Slitheen to Margaret's left spoke up, taking a small step forward before the Doctor threateningly twisted the sonic. "Who are you, if not human?"

Harriet stepped back and looked between Rose and the Doctor. "Who's not human?"

Rose shook her head, placing a placating hand on Harriet. "Don't worry."

The Doctor kept his attention on the creatures in front of them. "So, what's the plan?" He looked around the room and then to Rose raising an eyebrow. She shrugged, she couldn't tell him anything he wouldn’t learn by speaking to them, not yet anyway. She racked her brain, how would she tell him anything without Harriet raising suspicion?

He turned back to the aliens. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?"

The other Slitheen growled. "Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?"

"Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?" 

The same Slitheen laughed curtly. "The Slitheen race?"

The one to Margaret's left began to chuckle as well. "Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service."

"So, you're family," Rose said, grateful to finally be able to contribute something to the conversation.

"A family business."

The Doctor looked puzzled, his eyebrows scrunching in tight over his eyes. "Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?"

"Ah, excuse me?" The unnamed Slitheen spoke and Rose stepped back, pushing Harriet further into the room. "Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"

"Is that what I said?" The Doctor glanced to the side of the door.

"You're making it up," Margaret hissed.

"Ah, well! Nice try. Rose, have a drink!" Rose reached for the glass, snatching it away as the Doctor turned to the door, locating the small panel that would lock them in.

"Don't you think we should run?" Ganesh whimpered, the man raising his hands as he backed against the conference table.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson." The Doctor swiftly lifted the panel and slammed his hand down on the button inside. Giant, steel shutters crashed shut, encasing the room and sealing off the Slitheen. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in."

Rose turned and looked at the body still slumped half-way out of the cupboard. The Prime Minister forgotten. A shiver rippled down Rose's spine. "And how do we get out?"

The Doctor followed her gaze. "Ah."

* * *

The Doctor had pulled the body into a storage room off to the far side of the cabinet room. Rose hadn't been able to look; both Ganesh and Harriet had joined her in that sentiment. The decanter had been poured as soon as the Doctor picked up the body. Rose sipped slowly from her glass, letting the liquid burn the taste of ash out of her mouth.

When the Doctor returned, Rose sidled up to lean her head against his side. Part of her worried it was too fast, too soon for his comfort. But the image of the Prime Minister burned into her mind. After a moment, he pulled his arm around her and held her to his chest, letting the silence sit. 

Rose took a breath. She needed to get them moving, the faster they fixed this the less people died. She smiled at Ganesh, happy the man seemed to be faring a lot better this time, most likely due to her action at the sight of Margaret rather than her frozen fear. Rose glanced back at the cupboard. "They killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?" She propped her head against the Doctor's shoulder, peering up at him.

"He's too slim. They're big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans."

"But the Slitheen are about eight feet. How do they fit inside?"

"That's the device around their necks. Compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas. It's a big exchange."

Rose took another breath, she could clue him in now. "It's a distinct smell."

"Yeah," he looked down at her, his mind trying to catch up to hers. "Yeah, it is."

"We need to know what planet they're from..." She murmured.

The Doctor pulled back and plopped himself into a chair, propping his head on his hand. Rose leaned her hip against the table. "Why do you think that?"

"Well," Rose shrugged and traced the glass with a fingertip. "If we know exactly what they are, then we can find their weakness, right?"

The Doctor placed his palms on the table and stood, staring at the box in Harriet's arms. "But we don't know what they want." He stared at the box, squinting as if trying to solve its insides. "Harriet Jones, I know that name-Harriet," he called. "What's in the case."

"Defence codes." The woman shrugged. "Nothing on the nuclear level, of course, that's all with the United Nations. But still, dangerous for them to have." She patted the briefcase.

The Doctor snapped his head up. "Say that again."

"What, about the codes?"

"Anything. All of it." The Doctor folded his arms and leaned back, almost tipping the chair over. A pensive frown etched onto his face.

"Well, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN."

Rose sighed, "Like that's ever stopped them."

Harriet smiled broadly at her, a smug look to her eye, and Rose remembered how ready the woman was at launching a nuke into orbit. All to kill a retreating invasion. Rose shuddered at looked away before Harriet could continue to speak. "Exactly, given our past record. And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?"

The Doctor frowned. "Everything's important."

"Well they obviously want something from Earth. I mean," Rose paused unsure if she should be this quick to figure things out or if she should let the Doctor handle it. "They're a family, so the Slitheen are probably not invading to take over, right?"

The Doctor gave her a curious look. For a second Rose panicked. Like he was just about to figure her out, and then what? _Would he leave again?_

Before he had the chance to speak up she felt a light buzz go off in her pocket. A wash of relief flooded through her.

"Oh, that's me." She reached down, grateful for the excuse to look away, and flipped it open not expecting to hear the voice on the other end.

_"Rose!"_

Rose felt her jaw go slack. It was Mickey. She knew he had called last time, but she was still kinda dating him back then. 

She winced at the reminder.

 _"Get your mum out of my flat!"_ Rose blanked at his tone.

"Wait, Mum's there?" The Doctor was giving her an unimpressed look, she glared at him and turned her back on the room, facing one of the shuttered windows.

 _"Is that Rose?"_ She heard Jackie call. _"Oh, give me the-"_ A brief scuffle followed, crackling through the phone, and Rose could swear she heard a slap on the other end before her mum's voice popped back clearer than before. _"Rose, they came to the flat! I could have died!"_ Jackie's breaths could be heard in short bursts as she rushed through her sentences.

"Is that your mum?" The Doctor called from the table. Before she could reply he snatched her phone out of her hands and put it on speaker. "Is the boyfriend there?" He asked her.

Rose rolled her eyes, not this again. "One, we broke up the night I left with you-" She paused as his cheeks tinted. "-and two, his name is Mickey. Mum?" She called. "Can you put Mickey back on?"

_"But Rose-"_

"Please mum?"

The only answer to that was a sigh, grumble, and the unmistakable ruffling sound of movement as the phone was handed over. "Rose?"

"No, I'm the Doctor. Rickey-" Rose sighed and swung herself onto the table, kicking her legs out as she looked between the phone and the Doctor. "-I need you to shut up and go to your computer."

_"Why?"_

"Just do it!"

 _"All right, all right."_ Mickey sighed. _"Okay, what do you need me to do?"_

The Doctor grinned.

* * *

_"It says password"_

"Buffalo. Two Fs, one L." The Doctor spun in his chair, pensive and quiet. Quiet enough to not be insulting Mickey too badly when he spoke about 'being kept in the dark'. "Mickey, you were born in the dark."

Rose rolled her eyes and paced the room thinking of a way to speed up the conversation. "Doctor, why did they go to Big Ben?"

Ganesh spoke, his voice slurring from the two glasses he had downed, "You said to gather the experts, to kill them." He shrugged, sluggish and slow. "Pretty cut and dry."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon. You don't need to crash land in the middle of London."

"The Slitheen are hiding, but then they put the entire planet on Red alert."

 _"Oh, listen to her."_ Jackie's voice broke through the phone. Rose could picture her face, indignant and cross.

Rose had to clench her fists. _Right,_ regardless of what had supposedly happened in the past year with her mum and Mickey, she still didn't fully trust the Doctor. Especially after his leaving Rose in a puddle stunt. "Mum, I'm just trying..."

 _"Well, I've got a question, if you don't mind."_ Rose dug her nails into her skin. Not now, not again. _"Since that man walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter whisked off to who knows where only to return, crying-"_ The Doctor flinched at that and looked away from Rose and the curious gazes of Ganesh and Harriet. _"-in a puddle outside my flat!"_

"Mum, not now," Rose hissed out through gritted teeth. She glanced at the Doctor's hunched form. 

_"I'm talking to him. 'Cos I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it, and maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me."_ Rose held her breath, gaze locked on him as he raised his head to stare at the phone. _"Just answer me this. Is my daughter safe?"_

The room sucked in a breath and went still. Rose could feel the burning eyes of Harriet and Ganesh locked between her, the Doctor, and the phone. She tried not to tremble when he slowly lifted his head, his eyes connecting with hers. "Rose-"

_"Is she safe? Will she always be safe? Can you promise me that?"_

"I-" His eyes didn't waver from her. She could see him reliving their conversation earlier. His jaw ticked, words caught in his throat. He was saved from an answer by Mickey.

 _"We're in."_ Rose felt the tension slip, still present but focused on the task at hand. The Doctor and their companions turned back to the phone, their stares diverted for now.

Rose waited as the Doctor rattled off instructions, all the while ignoring the lingering question in the air. "It's some sort of message." He leaned onto the table, listening intently to the guttural speech of the Slitheen. "It's on loop."

A doorbell sounded from the phone. Rose shot up. "Mickey, Mum! Don't answer that." She ignored the Doctor's head snapping up in favour of her mother's questioning voice.

_"What? Why not?"_

"You said the Slitheen came to our flat. Think, how far is Mick's flat from ours?" Rose paused, trying to come up with a convincing argument. "Isn't there a possibility the Slitheen followed you?"

The room was silent.

_"So, what do we do?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early(late?) update due to Thanksgiving being this weekend for us Canadians. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for all your lovely comments!


	10. World War III

“Rose, what did you say about learning their weakness?”

Rose looked up. The Doctor sat, calm and still, eyes boring into hers. She felt her mouth go dry. 

Briefly, she wondered if she had messed up by stating they needed to know what planet the Slitheen were from, after all she had been nothing but all too knowing about the invasion. And this wasn’t the first time he had given her that look. Like she was some strange other-worldly creature, which, she supposes, she is to him. But what if he had caught on?

Before her brain could run away with her thoughts she spoke, “I said we need to know what planet they’re from. Then we can find something that doesn’t sit well with them,” she paused, trying to imagine how to sound unsure of how to deal with an invasion, then, “like the anti-plastic for the Nestene.” She winced. It was paltry at best as a cover but seemed to work as the Doctor nodded and furrowed his brows in contemplation.

“Which planet.” He murmured, staring blankly at the phone. The sound of Jackie panicking in the distance caused him, along with everyone else in the room, to stiffen.

Rose swallowed and felt her heart start to pound. She had to remind herself that everything would be fine.  _ Just like last time. _

“Judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them?” The Doctor swept his eyes around the room, his bright blue orbs scanning the blank faces of their companions and the thoughtful expression on hers.

Rose began to make a list in her head, naming them off as they came to her. “Green skin. Good sense of smell, enough to smell adrenaline,” She paused. What else had they said? She began to twitch her fingers, begging the thoughts to come to her.  _ Her mum could be killed, come on think!  _ “The technology, the pig!” 

The Doctor nodded along, “Narrows it down.”

“They hunt,” Ganesh spoke up from his position. “Like some kind of sport.” His eyes glazed over in fear. Rose almost trembled herself. The Slitheen were far from the worst family of game-hunters in the galaxy, but regardless they were never pleasant to deal with. Especially when you were the prey. Which made her mind turn to why they went after her mum. How had they even known about her?

“Narrows it down.”

“They smell weird,” Harriet interjected turning to Rose. Her own face locked in a focused expression.

Rose nodded. “Yeah, when they-”

Rose was interrupted by a  _ crash!  _ on the other side of the phone. 

_ “Rose!”  _ Her mum shrieked.  _ “It’s coming through the door!” _

Rose felt her pulse race to her throat. They were on a timer. And Rose had no guarantee that she hadn’t screwed her mum over by changing things. Maybe, if she hadn’t waited to suggest they figure out what the Slitheen were rather than why they were here. Or maybe if she’d been more careful leaving her flat, if she had warned her mum, if-

“Rose!” The Doctor pulled her attention, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Bad breath,” She gasped out. “They smell like bad breath when they fart. Or when their suits open.”

The Doctor’s eyes brightened. “Calcium decay. Now that narrows it down.”

_ Thud! Thud!  _ Rose gripped the table, her nails cracking against the pressure. Her mum was screaming hysterically at them.  _ “It’s broken down the door!”  _

“Calcium phosphate,” the Doctor muttered. “Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of living calcium. What else? What else? Hyphenated surname. Yes!” He stood. “That narrows it down to one planet. Raxacoricofallapatorius!”

_ “Great!”  _ Mickey’s voice crackled through the speaker.  _ “We could write ‘em a letter!” _

The Doctor chose to ignore Mickey’s sarcasm instead shouting, “Get in the kitchen!”

Rose watched the phone anxiously.  _ “My God, its going to rip us apart!” _

The Doctor leaned his weight onto the table, his palms flat against its surface. “Calcium, weakened by the compression field. Acetic acid. Vinegar!”

Harriet piped up, “Just like Hannibal!”

The Doctor gave her a grin. “Just like Hannibal. Mickey, have you got any vinegar?”

_ “How should I know?” _

Rose rolled her eyes, then froze. She had been the one to remind him where his vinegar was right? But she hadn’t been to Mickey’s flat in years. Rose racked her brain. 

“Check by the sink,” she said, uncertain and low. Rose bit at her thumb as the frantic slam of cabinets sounded from the phone.

For a second she was sure they were doomed, and she would lose both her mum and Mickey a second time.  _ White walls...  _ A cold fear settled into her bones and she squeezed her eyes shut. The image of the Cyberman Jackie stuck in her brain.

_ “Oh, give it here. What do you need?”  _ Jackie shouted into the phone.

“Anything with vinegar!” The Doctor shouted.

_ “Gherkins. Yeah, pickled onions. Pickled eggs.”  _

Rose sobbed out a half laugh. The Doctor turned to her with an incredulous expression. “You kiss this man?”

She shook her head, partially grateful for the distraction and half-annoyed at the insistence of a relationship she hadn’t, technically, had for years.“I told you, not anymore.”

He paused. Rose raised an eyebrow challengingly. “Wasn’t sure you were serious about that.”

She gave him a half attempt at a flirty smile, willing her bubbling stomach to calm. “Oh, very.” With a smug sort of satisfaction, that did wonders for her anxiety, she watched as his eyes darted down her form before quickly adverting themselves to the wall just behind her shoulder.

“Well,” He cleared his throat. 

Ganesh awkwardly coughed, pulling Rose’s attention to the two other people in the room and the phone. The phone currently connected to her mum who was battling it out with a Slitheen. “Mum?” She called. The anxiety reared its head and began to insistently tug on her stomach, flipping it upside down the longer they heard nothing but silence. And the sound of a Slitheen creature shuffling its way into the flat.

And then, they heard a loud splash and the unmistakable screech of the Slitheen.

“Mum?” 

_ “Oh, I got ‘im,”  _ Jackie’s voice wavered. And Rose felt like her heart began to beat in her chest once again. She breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back into her chair, burying her head in her hands. It was okay. Her mum was okay and not a Cyberman. 

Rose, head still in her hands and thought trailing back to a lifetime ago could barely find her voice, but when she did she turned to the phone, voice muffled,“Oh, God. Are you both okay?”

_ “We’re fine sweetie. It’s okay.” _ Rose almost laughed, just like her mum to face death by alien only to turn around and comfort her. Next thing you know she would be complaining about the vinegar staining the floor, and the dead alien in the kitchen. 

Luckily, she didn’t get the chance.  _ “Wait,”  _ Mickey’s voice called.  _ “Listen to this.” _

The phone crackled as the growly, fake voice of the Slitheen spoke, “ _ Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads. And they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within forty five seconds.” _

The room went still. Silent.

The clink of glass against the wooden table broke the silence, briefly. But then Ganesh went as rigid and stiff as the rest of them, his glass unmoved on the table where it slipped, until Rose turned to look him in the eye. He stared, mouth open and brows turned down, with a look of shock and fear widening his eyes. Rose was reminded of his brush with death, in another life he would have been gone. She wished she could tell him they would all make it. She wished she could just stuff them all in the closet and launch the missile herself. 

“What?” The Doctor said incredulously. 

_ “Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the Heart of the beast is our only chance of survival. Because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you, planet Earth is at war.” _

“He’s making it up.” The Doctor leaned forward and braced himself over the phone, glaring as if it were the Slitheen. “There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it.”

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose, she was racking her brain. She hadn’t thought this far ahead. Too focused on Ganesh and Harriet, and everything with her mum and Mickey. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled forcing her shoulders to relax. She tuned out the voices around her, letting Ganesh’s slurred and shaky speech fill in for her missing voice. 

She could convince Margaret to let them go, have the Doctor solve the problem from the TARDIS, or-She glanced at the closet again, barely enough to fit three people, let alone four. But, it would have to be enough. She doubted Margaret would be reasonable. After all, it took the Time Vortex to change her ways, and even then only by turning her into an egg.

Rose thought of her mum, too. A small ember of rage at the danger she was placed in lingered in the pit of her stomach. Why would they go after her? She knew, instinctively because she had spent years dealing with vindictive humans and aliens alike, that it was their way of sending a message. And that made her anger worse. You could threaten her, try to kill her or imprison her, but going after her mum?

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw.

She had to stay focused. She’d get her words with the Slitheen later, until then she would have to let this play out. Then she would have to let Margaret go, the TARDIS would have to deal with her in the future.  _ After  _ she yelled her fake ears off. They might not even need the Vortex to make her change, if the anger inside her had anything to say about it.

Suddenly, the shutters began to open. The loud screech of metal scraping against metal beating against her ears and jolting her up, eyes snapping open. She turned, covering the sides of her head to look at the Doctor. And Margaret. 

Rose narrowed her eyes.

The Doctor stood, his back squared and arms held behind his back in a rigid stance. The ember she had felt in the expanse of her ribs was nothing to the cool rage placed on his face. 

Rose shuddered and let herself pause. She collected herself, reminding herself that they’d get nowhere if both she and the Doctor tried to go on the offensive.

“You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back.” He paused, his chest heaving. “World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked.”

Margaret smiled, her human lips stretching uncomfortably across her face. And Rose felt her own face twist up in a scowl, the alien had no clue how lucky she was going to be. And yet, she stood prettily, in the body of a dead woman, not a care in the world. “And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away.” She tittered out a laugh. Rose grimaced, and she pushed down the swirling fire in her chest.

She stood and crossed the room, coming to stand just behind the Doctor. A hand raised and placed on his shoulder, his own fury radiating through his jacket and into her palm. 

Rose sighed and took a breath allowing the cool air to pass through her burning body and extinguish the rage she felt. Everyone gets a chance. Even Margaret. Even if it pained her to think calmly while the Doctor seethed under her palm.

“But you’ll destroy this planet, this beautiful place.” Harriet’s voice raised as she looked at the alien, a panic crossing her features. And of course, the Slitheen were the beginning of the destruction Harriet would cause, her fear of aliens suddenly more understandable to Rose as she looked at the thin stretched lips and swollen cheeks of the creature. “What for?”

The Doctor spoke just as Rose reached down with her free hand to clasp his fingers between her own. “Profit.” He looked down at Rose, and she schooled her expression, calming the storm she could feel in her eyes. She gave him, instead, a look of support. Or as close to one as she could muster. He sighed, taking her cue, and relaxed his posture, schooling his own expression into one of cool nonchalance. “That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advert.” He spoke to Harriet, drawing his eyes forcibly away from Rose, and keeping them away from Margaret.

“The sale of the century,” Margaret sung. “We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it piece by piece. Radioactive chucks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel.” Rose looked at her. The woman was so heartless, incapable of understanding the destruction she’d be causing. And maybe, the TARDIS was right to give her another chance, maybe when they met again Rose would be able to think about what kind of woman Margaret would be away from her family and their destruction. But in the moment her mind kept drifting to her mum, and all rational thoughts flew out the window.

The Doctor clenched his jaw, and Rose squeezed his hand drawing the tension off his face. And grounding her. “At the cost of five billion lives.” He raised his eyes to Margaret.

Margaret merely shrugged, “Bargain.”

“I give you a choice’” The Doctor started. His hand tightened around Rose’s, a grip that left her hand almost numb, as he attempted to control his voice. “Leave this planet or I'll stop you.” He leveled her with a dark look. A hint at the storm under his skin.

Margaret stared, oblivious to the real threat standing across from her. Only being held back by a small human girl. Rose shook her head at the idea, she couldn’t hold him back if she tried, but he was allowing her to stop him. 

“What, you? Trapped in your box?” Margaret gestured to the room, fat fingers wiggling in a taunting manner.

“Yes. Me.” And without a moment of hesitation, he slammed his free hand down, and the shutters crashed around the room sealing it properly shut.

The Doctor stood still. His ticking jaw the only sign of life in his stock still body..

Harriet had quickly left them alone to this side of the room, instead excusing herself to sit by Ganesh, who was quietly swishing the lingering bourbon in his glass.

Rose felt her heart clench. “How long do we got?”

His shoulders pulled back. “Not long.”

* * *

The room felt somehow smaller, the long hours passing by in slow crawls. The only hint of time passing from the news that streamed in through the crackle of the cell phone speaker.

Rose had been pacing.

She wanted to tear out her hair, clump by clump. She had been struggling with the realization that she could do nothing and the pressing confusion of her own feelings about Margaret. A part of her felt sorry for the woman, the memories of the poor little egg they had dropped off on Raxacoricofallapatorius. Another part felt her anger was justified, because that creature tried to kill her mum, just to get to her. How they even knew about her mum was a completely different series of questions she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know the answers to. 

Yet, even as she paced, partly feeling justified in her emotions, she felt utterly helpless. And more so than anything that infuriated her, and made her a bit scared. What if the closet wasn’t going to be big enough for the four of them? What if saving Ganesh before just meant one of them would die later? What if the Doctor only came back because the Slitheen were invading today and-

She stopped and tilted her head to the ceiling. No. She refused to continue to think about it. Of course, it still stung. He left for his own sake, not for hers. It was different than the Game Station in that regard. And Canary Wharf. 

She was going to scream if she thought about that place one more time in the next 24 hours.

“There has to be a way out.” Harriet spoke lowly to Mickey over the phone. Rose was grateful for her unending optimism despite the dour mood of everyone else. Still, it was no use. Not until the Doctor figured out that they could launch a missile at Downing.

For the fortieth time, Rose wondered how she could realistically work that idea into the conversation. And for the fortieth time she was left with nothing but the urge to bang her head against the wall.

Rose sighed. Her fingers combed through her slightly curled hair, tangles forming from her frantic running catching on her nails. She ripped her hand through the strains, ignoring the sharp tug as she did so. She could simply suggest they use the missile, but that would just lead to more questions, and there was no guarantee that all of the Slitheen were where they needed to be. Besides, she had already pushed her luck by trying to hurry things along earlier, judging by the Doctor’s curious looks towards her.

The room stood silent for a moment, Harriet own hopefulness wavering at the lack of answers from Mickey’s end. Until,  _ “Rose?”  _ Mickey’s voice rang from the phone. Quiet, unsure. Nothing like the Mickey she knew, and all at once exactly like him. 

She turned, pausing with hands still combing through her frazzled hair. “Yes?”

_ “I’m sorry.”  _

A pause.

“What?” She was the one who put them in danger. Rose took a step forward and placed her hand on the Doctor’s chair.

_ “I’m sorry we fought last. And I yelled. You were right. I’m sorry.”  _ She could hear the shaking in his voice. An itch of concern tickled the back of her mind.

Worriedly she leaned her weight on the cushioned leather, “Mickey? What are you-”

_ “I’m sorry.”  _ He emphasized his words, an underlying meaning behind them.

“Why are you saying that? Why are you apologizing?” She bit her lip. “Mickey, you’re making me nervous.”

_ “Because there’s a way out.”  _ A shuddering breath.  _ “But its not-” _

The Doctor stood abruptly, drawing the attention of the room. Rose jumped back from the chair just before it could roll over her foot. “Stop talking.” He leaned forward, as if contemplating strangling the phone, before deciding better of it and turning to pace across the room.

_ “So you know it too!” _

“Doctor-”Rose started.

“What is it?” Harriet interrupted. She stood facing the Doctor, her hands wringing.

He shook his head.

_ “There’s always been a way out. Isn’t that right, Doctor?” _

Rose stepped towards him. “Doctor, what is it?” The seed of worry in her chest was gone, she knew the plan, she knew it would work. She just had to convince him. Although, that small spark of doubt ignited in her mind, why was he refusing to say? The last time had been for her sake because of her mum’s insistence that he keep her safe. Was it still the same? Did he only want to keep her away from this danger to sway his own guilt, or maybe he really didn’t want her to be in danger?

The Doctor locked his eyes with hers. Their piercing blue locking to hers and scanning every inch of her bared soul, she could tell the moment he detected her worry and she tried to show him it wasn’t her doubt in him, but her doubt in her worth to him. Which didn’t really seem much better and was much harder to communicate without words. 

He didn’t give a slight sign of acknowledgement that he understood her. Why would he? Instead he let his eyes wander over to Harriet and Ganesh before looking, sadly, back to her. “I can’t guarantee you’ll be safe.”

Rose heard her mother make a distressed noise.  _ “Don’t you dare. Whatever it is, don’t you dare. Not again.” _

_ “Jackie, there isn’t any other option.”  _

Rose shook her head. It didn’t matter what happened to her, even though she knew she’d be fine. “If you don’t everyone could die” She took a step forward and reached to clasp the Doctor’s hand in her own. He needed to save the world and not worry about consequences that she knew wouldn’t come to pass. Not if she had any say in it. “Do it.” 

“You don’t even know what it is.” Rose smiled, if only he knew. “You’d just let me?” 

“Of course.”  _ Always.  _ She may not know how she changed his opinion of her, or even if she understood it in the first place. But she knew, even if he left her a thousand times over, she would trust him with her life. 

_ “Doctor. Please. She’s my daughter!”  _ Rose looked to the phone, her heart shattered at her mum’s voice. She knew she would be fine, but Jackie didn’t. She couldn’t imagine the fear she was feeling. But there wasn’t any time to assure her mum she’d be fine. 

She shook her head sadly and looked back to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked back, pausing for a moment before speaking to the phone. His voice was low and quiet. Nothing like the desperate rage she had remembered from last time. “Do you think I don't know that? Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will.”

Rose smiled shyly to herself. “Then what’re you waiting for?”

“I could save the world,” Rose sucked in a breath at the words. “But lose you.” His eyes softened and traced down her face. And maybe Rose had worried for nothing, maybe he left for his own guilt because he felt responsible. But maybe-just maybe-he felt guilty because he couldn’t protect her and he wanted to. And if he wanted to protect her it meant he wanted her with him. 

Rose gave him a watery grin. “Don’t you remember what I said?”

He stared. Eyes wide and disbelieving and, if she wasn’t mistaken, full of a slight pride. In turn she felt her chest swell with warmth. 

“I’d rather be saving the world-with you.”

He sucked in a breath. “Even if it meant you’d die, if I killed you?”

Rose tried to protest, to tell him he’d never cause her harm. Except he had by leaving. But that was different. She tried to find the words to assure him, but he was looking at her with tired, sad eyes. And suddenly she found the words lost on her tongue and her breath stuck in her throat.

Harriet stood. “Except, it’s not your decision, Doctor, its mine.” 

They turned to her. Harriet’s face set in a challenging stare.

_ “And who the hell are you!” _

Harriet gave a weak smile and set her stare to Rose. Apologetic but determined. “Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people. And on behalf of the people, I command you.” She shifted her eyes to lock with the Doctor’s. “Do it.”

Rose could feel the tension radiating off the Doctor. He was being given a way out. He had to listen to Harriet now, it was on her if they died. But she could tell, as he looked down at her with one more sad look, it pained him to put her at any risk. Another thing pointing to his genuine fear for her safety. Another reason why he could have left.

She watched him set his face into a determined stare as he strode forward, loosening his grip on her hand until she slipped through his fingers.

“How do we get out?” Ganesh straightened in his seat.

“We don’t. We stay here.”

She could never be certain. Certain why he did the things he did. Why his brain somehow connected running with the notion of safety. She thought of Sarah Jane, the woman who she became despite his abandonment. 

“Use the buffalo password. It overrides everything.” He flipped open the case at Harriet’s side.

Maybe she was smarter for leaving them despite the chance of travelling again. Rose couldn’t blame her, the fear of being left again was already weighing on her she could only imagine how Sarah Jane must have felt.

Rose pulled her arms around herself, letting her thoughts drag her away from the conversation. She already knew how it would play out, after all.

It wasn’t fair to analyze him now. Not after years of accepting his decisions as quirks and lingering coping mechanisms. She wanted to laugh at herself. Minutes away from a bomb dropping on her head and she was standing, off to the side, finally thinking about something she should have addressed as soon as he came back. But she hadn’t wanted him to leave, and in this room he couldn’t. And then he was saying things that made her believe that he had cared far deeper than he should only days after meeting her.

She shook. She was letting everything get to her head. Yes, they needed to talk. Yes, she wouldn’t let him leave her behind, and she doubted the TARDIS would either. But she needed to focus, get them out alive first.

_ “I could stop you.”  _ Her mum’s voice drew her attention. That was another thing to worry about. Her mother. She needed to speak to her, explain everything. Well, almost everything. She couldn’t just tell her about Pete’s Universe-

Oh, god.  _ Pete.  _ She hadn’t even thought about her dad.

“Rose?” She felt a palm on her shoulder.

She turned, suddenly finding herself unable to breath in the small room. Ganesh stood, unsteadily behind her. His warm hand still and comforting on her shoulder.

“You alright?”

She barked out a loose chuckle, unable to hide her panic. “I’ll be fine. Just nervous an’ all.” She shook her head. “This room is getting to me.”

“It’s getting to all of us.” He pulled her into a light, if not awkward, hug. She let herself collapse in his embrace, grateful nonetheless of his offer of comfort. “We’ll be fine. I read about the Doctor a while back. UNIT records say he’s one of the best. He’ll figure it out.”

“‘Course.” She nodded and pulled away. “‘Course he will.” She could only hope to do the same.

The Doctor looked over at them, his smile fading at her nervous look. She tried to give him a reassuring smile in turn, but her mouth felt stuck, like if she tried to move it all her fears would come spilling out. He watched her, with those pale eyes and then nodded, once, before speaking to Mickey. His eyes never left hers. “Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands.” A pause. His throat bobbed. “Fire.”

They couldn’t hear anything, no sign of a missile launching. Just deafening silence following the clack of fingers on a keyboard. 

They all stood, waiting to die. 

Rose shook herself and stepped away from Ganesh. “All right, now I'm making the decision.” She looked over the Doctor’s shoulder, squarely at the cupboard behind. The small, wooden box that would be their salvation. Almost ironic considering the other small, wooden box that had saved her life so many times. “I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe.” She turned to Harriet and Ganesh, looking them both in the eye. “This cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on.” She waved them over and trudged past the Doctor, yanking open the cupboard door. 

Harriet wasted no time in joining her, pulling coats and boots and a flurry of other objects and clothes out to throw them across the room. Ganesh soon joined, though his sluggish movements were of less help. And in no time the cupboard was empty for everything except the racks bolted into the wall. Soon enough they squeezed their way in, the Doctor running in last after final words of luck to Mickey.

He pressed up against Rose’s side and shut the door, locking them in dim light, provided only by the hanging bulb. Bodies pressed together, uncomfortably, further smothering the little light they had.

Rose felt his hand reach for hers and she quickly scooped it up, gripping it tight to her chest. 

She stared at him, in the quiet moments they had left. The sound of hearts beating wildly, pumped full of adrenaline and fear, their only companion to the stillness of the air. She stared at let him stare back. The irrefutable concern etched into hard lines on his face. She could tell he wanted to apologise, say he was sorry for dragging her into another deadly situation. And Rose felt a small clarity fill the back of her mind. 

The confusion of her life could be sorted out later. In moments in a library or small study or even her mum’s kitchen. She had time for questions and answers. But in that moment, she just needed to hold his hand and refuse to let go.

Harriet broke their companionable tranquility, her own colder hand reaching to clasp Rose’s free one in an effort to find a small comfort in their cramped safe haven. “Here we go. Nice knowing you all.” She took a breath, then with the final moments of light, just as they began to hear the whistling sound of the missile. “Hannibal!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I rewrote this chapter a billion times. I *think* I'm happy with the results, but who knows. Anyways, sorry for the late update, I'm *eventually going to get better I promise!


	11. World War III: Pressure and Heat

The walls trembled. Sounds of shattering glass and splintering steel, a sound Rose could only compare to the sound nails make as the rake across a chalkboard, filled her ears and sent a sharp tug of a shiver down her spine.

Someone was screaming. The screech of a voice growing hoarse drowned out the smashing of glass and thuds of wood. Rose felt a hand tighten around hers. A cold shot of fear and loose thoughts barreled into her mind. A woman’s voice calling out for her mother. A man, irrationally calm, and full of hazy thoughts. If Rose hadn’t been preoccupied with the rending of the walls caving around them she would have taken the time to notice the odd sensation of feeling someone else’s thoughts. As it was she didn’t have the time. And the walls began to bend, concave in towards them, the splintering wood threatening to cave in on them from above. The air thick and heavy with the weight of heat and the slick scent of fear.

For a brief moment, Rose was back in the past. When the bodies pressed against her were one less heavy, and the air was filled with her own screams of terror. The trembling under her feet a stark reminder of the destruction she had seen on the viewing station; the image of Earth, burning under her feet, seared into her mind.

But she wasn’t scared this time. No, this time she felt a surge of calm rush through her body, sending tingles down her arms and leaving her body limp in the arms of the Doctor. They were going to be okay. She clenched her eyes shut as another tremor shook the room.

They could feel the heat radiating through the walls, slipping through their tiny defenceless sanctuary and into the small, dark space. Harriet’s screams subsided into whimpers as they pressed tighter together, the heat sticking Rose’s arms to the Doctor jacket.

And just as Rose felt herself shiver under the groaning of the building, everything stopped. 

The room stood still. 

For a moment they huddled in a palpable silence. The sounds of lungs grasping at air stifled under hands and short gasps filled with tears. Above their heads, as if gravity had finally righted itself, bits of plaster and loosened screws rained down snagging on jackets and tangled, sweaty hair. Rose felt arms tighten around her as the groan of metal creaked from above and she spied the metal bars, where coat hangers once hung, begin to bend themselves toward the ground before coming to a slow and halting stop. Their edges, broken at the seams, pointing with a warning down towards her eyes.

They stared, until all at once they came to the conclusion that it was really over. Harriet let out a relieved sob and launched herself across Ganesh’s lap to cling to Rose. The same whispers calling for her mum brushed across her mind.

“Oh, you saved us,” she whimpered into the thick leather of Rose’s jacket, clinging to the blue material in a brief squeeze before releasing her. Rose watched as the woman wiped at her eyes and turned to hug Ganesh in quick succession. 

She smiled sadly at the sight, knowing all too well the stress Harriet would soon be forced to endure.

Without warning, the arms holding her slid from around her back, leather against leather, as the Doctor stood. Rose watched as he pulled himself up, leaning against the brittle wall as he reached out a hand, unwavering and seemingly unaffected. Slowly, he slid open the door, letting the heated air out into the larger room. For a moment he stared, blue eyes searching the darkened room for any sign of danger.Seemingly satisfied that all was clear, he reached his hand back in offering. Rose took it without hesitation and let him pull her up and behind him as he stepped through the wooden door.

Rose gasped at the sight. Somehow her memories had buried the wreckage under a mountain of other thoughts, she remembers the fear clearly, and the cool press of Harriet’s hands digging into her own. But the mess. The room was a complete mess. The ceiling had collapsed on the far side, caved in under the weight of several stories being pushed and compressed into one by the pressure and heat of the bomb. _And the floor._ Vaguely, Rose recalled the hours of lecture’s Pete’s Torchwood scientists had given her on physics, _every action has an equal and opposite reaction_ , the pressure of the bomb into the earth sent a shock wave back up. The floor pushed almost touching the collapsed ceiling, even through the metal shielding that had been wrapped around the room in a protective cocoon. She couldn’t even see where the furniture went.

Rose took a cautious step forward, bending under fallen beams as she scanned the room for the door. She heard Harriet and Ganesh both take steps into the room, their breaths hitching at the sight. 

“Well,” Harriet said, sliding a piece of what was once furniture out of her way with her foot.. “Made in Britain.” She chuckled as she marveled at the room. 

Rose felt her own hysterical laugh bubble up and push out of her before she could stop. 

_They survived a bomb. Again._ Of course they did, it was her and the Doctor after all. Still, she could hardly believe it. Four adventures down, and she had somehow gotten them out alive. She looked at Ganesh then. 

The man had his whole life ahead of him now. She felt a little proud of herself. She had given another person a chance, even if the Slitheen hadn’t gotten one, in spite of everything

The man stood, surprisingly calm and stable despite his earlier actions, pulling Harriet over a mound of splintered floorboards. His irritation and temper replaced with a relieved smile and a small chuckle at her quiet words.

Rose smiled, and turned back to the Doctor watching him through the thin layer of floating dust as he heaved against the dented metal door, gripping the metal with the uncovered strength belied by his frame. The door shifted with a groan. And then, with a matching grunt from the alien, it fell forward slamming into the ground with a harsh thud.

Rose grimaced as the light hit her eyes. The sounds of cries and shouts and sirens buffeted her ears, pushing at the silent compressed air surrounding the collapsed room. With a hiss Rose lowered her hand and stepped forward, letting her eyes adjust as she blinked rapidly. 

If the room inside had been destroyed, the outside world was decimated. Nothing remained unburied by fallen beams and powdered bricks. Piles of rubble sat smoking, the air thick with smoke and carbon. And on the other side of the rubble stood a crowd of shouting people. Men and women covered in varying uniforms worked in tandem holding back the crowd while simultaneously cooling the flames that had caught on what remained of Downing Street. 

Rose felt the hairs on her arms raised in the clashing heat of the bomb mixing with the naturally cool weather of London. She reached for the Doctor’s hand as they looked at the outside world, the product of their decision a startling sight. 

“Well,” Harriet said as she trudged up next to them, Ganesh on her heels. “This is a right mess.”

They watched as an officer ran up to them, bravely climbing the pile until he stood, panting in front of them. “Oh my God! Are you alright?” Rose raked her eyes down his uniform, noting the standard black vest stamped with the bright, white letters of POLICE across his front. 

Harriet stepped forward, flashing her badge, which Rose noted, with some amusement, was still impeccable as ever. Rose watched as the woman took charge, an air of calm authority passing over her as she ordered the officer to contact the UN, before she turned back to the Doctor with a flustered face. “Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord.” She paused. A look of shocked realization passed over her eyes. “We haven't even got a Prime Minister.”

Ganesh smirked and stepped forward, laying his hand on Harriet’s upper arm. “Maybe, you should run.” He looked to the officer, who had retreated in a hurry to carry out Harriet’s orders. 

“Me?” She shook her head. “I'm only a back-bencher.” 

Ganesh met Rose’s eyes over Harriet’s frame. Rose smiled in response and stepped forward. “I’d vote for ya.” She pushed her memories back, trying to remind herself of the woman Harriet could become if she could warn her. Or if Torchwood never got involved.

Harriet stood, her mouth gaping at the three stood around her. Rose felt the Doctor squeeze Rose’s hand before he nodded to the crowd. “Go on. Someone needs to help.”

Harriet set her mouth into a firm line. Her lips pressed tightly to each other. Then, with a small nod, she turned and raced off her voice raised in a shout before she had even made it five feet. The small woman’s voice carrying a command that stopped several officers in their tracks, before they realized what exactly was being said.

The Doctor chuckled. “Knew I recognized that name. Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister.”

Ganesh sighed as they watched her vanish from sight.“Never thought the annoying MP from Flydale would be my first pick for PM. But, I guess a lot can change in a few hours.” He turned and stuck out his hand to the Doctor, grinning as the man stood awkwardly before he hesitantly reached back. “Thank you, Doctor, I’ll tell UNIT we just missed you then?”

The Doctor grinned. “You are from UNIT!”

“Of course, who else would they trust to handle the infamous Doctor? Had to replace the previous Junior Secretary, but it was better that we handled it.” He shook his head then murmured, “Not to mention who would know what you looked like.”

Rose tried not to react, but it was getting harder to hear about regeneration when she knew he would go through it again in only a few months. She grimaced and looked down, reminding herself to at least get him to tell her about it before Game Station, that way she wouldn’t have to fake her surprise. Well, she was sure she would still be shocked but it would be more about seeing _his_ face then having to let go of this one. Although, that would be difficult on an entirely different level. She pressed tighter to his side.

“I’m just surprised, is drinking on the job standard procedure now?” 

Ganesh laughed, his face darkening with embarrassment. “Ah, best not write that in the report.” He scratched behind his ear

The Doctor gave him a knowing smirk. “First time on the field?”

“Oh, yeah.” The blushing man nodded. “The Brigadier wanted to be here himself but was a bit-” Ganesh squinted as if searching for the right words. “-preoccupied. Besides, the higher ups thought this was just a first contact, nothing to worry about unless you showed up. So, they sent me.”

“Not very smart of them.”Rose nudged him for the comment sending him a look, with a raised brow and tilted head. The Doctor quickly moved to correct himself, “But, you did good. Very helpful…” He raised his brow and looked to Rose. 

Rose decided to take pity, turning to Ganesh and giving him a warm and genuine smile. “We’d best go. It was nice meeting you.” She tugged on the Doctor’s arm, leading him to a back alley that appeared to be somewhat clear of the crowd.

Ganesh didn’t attempt to stop them, merely smiling. His hands dug deep in his pockets and his legs planted halfway in a walk leading towards where Harriet had disappeared.“Of course. And Rose-”

“Yeah?”

Ganesh paused, then, without a hint of insincerity he spoke,“Thank you, for saving us.” He cleared his throat and stepped back. “Well, go on then. You better run before the General gets here, you’ll be stuck with hours of paperwork.” He shuddered as if dreading the thought of the task itself.

Rose huffed out a laugh, half-incredulous and half-confused. The Doctor tugged her along further, a small grin pulling at the corner of his lips.

Rose let him drag her down empty streets, past the thick worried crowds and in the opposite direction of the swarm of black cars and police cruisers. The cool air swept past their faces and pulled the uncomfortable heat of curious gazes off their backs. Rose took a deep breath. The inflation of her lungs settling her heart and mind. It was a surprising relief, to be out in the open yet hidden from sight.

She slowed them to a slow walk, gripping his hand tightly in hers.

“So-” she began, thousands of questions she wished to speak. But none of them seemed appropriate for the outside world. “-The Brigadier? I mean, I know you worked for them...” She continued, letting her eyes wander down grey buildings and black streets. The unlit lamps, even several blocks from Downing, looked unstable in their beds. Their glass fractured and cracked. 

The Doctor stopped. And Rose forced her eyes away from the lamps to the cold and drawn look on his face. She stared in shock, the shift from the warm mirth and sarcastic jokes to the cold mask he placed on his face was abrupt and startling. He still held his lips in a quirk, something she had begun to note was just another mask, like his words his smile hid his true feelings. Even from her.“Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. He was an old friend. When I worked for UNIT.” He relented, finally letting some warmth back into his tone at the memory.

Rose paused. She couldn’t recall the last time he called anyone a friend before considering them a companion or acquaintance first.

What kind of man would the Doctor call a friend? Sarah Jane had been so many things; kind, intelligent, witty and above all curious. Although Rose was hesitant to call herself intelligent or witty she knew the last one fit her. Curiosity is what led her to him, both times. It’s what made the decision for her when he told her it traveled in time. It’s why she couldn’t imagine a life outside the TARDIS. Maybe, this Alistair was like her and Sarah Jane, curious and kind and human, all too human for the Doctor to resist his acquaintance. 

“When did you meet him?” 

He didn’t answer for a long time, and she wondered if he was afraid. He never liked companions meeting, he had told her that. But Alistair wasn’t a companion, at least, it didn’t sound like it. And he worked for UNIT, meaning they probably met when he was banished. Which was still odd to think about, for him to have been banished it would have happened before Gallifrey was destroyed. Before he destroyed it.

“It was a while ago.” His voice drew her out of her thoughts, and she noticed with a startling realization that they had stopped walking. 

“How long’s ‘a while’ for a Time Lord?”

“Well, it’s not exactly linear, couple hundred years for me, a couple decades for him.” He shrugged, like this was a common thing. And she supposed, for him, it was. 

“Ah,” She nodded and pulled her hand away, crossing her arms as she shifted her weight. Suddenly, the lights were interesting again. “Must be lonely. Not seeing your friends for that long.” She paused, somewhere she knew she shouldn’t push him. But the anger and sadness from being stuck in that room was starting to build up in her again. All she wanted was to talk to him. “Do you have any friends from your planet?”

As soon as the question left her lips she felt a ball drop in her stomach. His eyes sharpened and she felt his body stiffen, freezing the air around them.

He sighed, and she watched in a cautious frozen state as he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists before deciding to hid them from sight by crossing them over his chest. “No.”

If Rose was smart, like Sarah Jane, she would have stopped. She would have let him drag her back home and sit by the library fire as they ignored their problems. She would let him show her stars and planets and wonderful and strange people and never push him further. But he had left her. And she was so tired of existing on a different plane of existence than him, always being told what he wants to tell and never the things she needs to know. It had once been easy between them, a point in time somewhere after losing Mickey, where she would ask him anything that came to mind and he would answer. Because they were together, but not _together._ And now they were further from that than they’d ever been. 

Why couldn’t she have come back then? 

“Why not?”

“What?”

She stood still, lifting her chin to stare him directly in the eye. “Why not? You haven’t told me anything about yourself, so tell me this. Why don’t you have any friends from your planet?”

He stared. Blue, turned icy and cold and analytical. She had to hold back a shiver as he looked at her. His gaze like a glacier moving slowly across her face as he searched for his words. “Because it’s just me.” His eyes softened, and Rose felt her heart clench tightly in her chest. “It’s just me, Rose. They’re all dead.”

She felt tears prick at her eyes. His voice was soft and gentle, as if he was breaking bad news to her rather then reliving his past. “I’m sorry.” She whispered into the air, her voice catching the wind as it whistled pat their heads.

“Remember the station?” He asked, and she nodded curious at the change in topic while his voice was still laced in sadness. “My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time.

He took in a shuddering breath, and Rose could tell from the tense lines around his eyes that he was waiting. Waiting for her to ask. “What happened?”

“There was a war,” he said, voice thick and impossibly quiet. She had to step into his space to hear him clearly. “And we lost. I’m the last, Rose.”

“There’s me.” She shrugged, watching him cautiously, half afraid he’d bolt. And then he looked at her, with those impossibly old and sad eyes, and without him speaking she knew. “That’s why you left?”

“They’re all gone, I watched them-” His voice caught in his throat and he stepped back, closing his eyes briefly as he swallowed. “I couldn’t watch that happen to you.”

“Is that why you haven’t seen Alistair, or anyone else from UNIT?” _Sarah Jane._

The air in London had never felt so cold to her, even on the Christmas where he was gone, both dead and not. A strange new Doctor unconscious on her spare bed, while the world stood on the precipice of destruction. And yet, in a few simple confessions he had left her chilled to the bone. This man, who she thought she had known, who had tried to tell her these things in another body, was finally getting through to her. He didn't stay because he was afraid, and if he left that meant they would never truly be dead. She felt her heart stutter, suddenly furious that she had never really understood why he would leave when she wasn't afraid. Aliens and danger she could deal with, she wasn’t afraid of dying. But he was afraid of living. Of watching those he loved die. If she wasn’t in the midst of a frozen panic she would have laughed at the irony. 

She didn’t laugh, didn’t speak. Simply, she reached for his hand as he stood, still and unmoved except for the widening of his eyes. “You don’t have to run.”

He nodded, not answering for a long moment. Then, with a small tug on her arm he began to walk. “Come on, best get back.” 

“Doctor?” She pulled him back, turning him to face her. 

“Yeah?”

“Better with two, yea?” She needed to know things would be okay, one day they could have the same easiness they once had.

He smiled, a lingering melancholy in his eyes, and didn’t answer. Instead, pulling her after him as they walked back towards home.

* * *

If there was one thing that Rose could be certain of, especially in a world full of uncertainty and chance, it was the fury of one Jackie Tyler. At least that’s what she had thought.

Without pause her mum had screamed and ranted and cried for what felt like an hour before she finally took a breath, swiftly followed by another warning slap to the Doctor, who promptly excused himself to the TARDIS promising to wait. If Rose wasn’t so sure the TARDIS would refuse to leave without her she might’ve worried. But the comforting, if quiet, hum that had steadily placed itself in her head as soon as they neared the estates had assuaged her worries. Not to mention the soft but sincere look the Doctor had given her before extracting his hand from hers.

As soon as he left, Rose felt her shoulders relax, tension unknowingly built up in her that made her body ache. She flopped down in their chair, the same exact one she had watched the Doctor sit in only a few hours earlier. She sighed and turned to the TV that had been playing an inaccurate tale of the past days events, the newscaster a mousy woman begging Harriet Jones for an interview.

“‘ere you go, sweetheart.” Jackie gently placed a steaming mug in front of her as she backed up into her own seat.

“Ta.” Rose reached blindly for the mug, hissing as the heated ceramic kissed her palm. She took a slow sip, letting the liquid swish around in her mouth as she turned over her thoughts, her mum next to her settling with a stillness that disturbed her. “Mum, y’know…” She waited for the words to come, unsure what her mum wanted her to say.

“I understand, Rose.”

“You do?” She stared at the side of Jackie’s head, raising a brow as the bright blue of the television screen washed over her mum’s smoothed forehead. She was calm. Almost too calm for Rose’s liking. “Mum?”

Jackie sighed and placed her mug onto the table with a light _thunk_ ! 

“Sweetheart, I’m worried. I’m not going to lie, that daft man has dragged us both to hell and back-” Rose froze at the _both,_ before she remembered herself and leaned back into her chair, curling her thoughts into a safe corner of her mind. “-and, I’ll be honest; he terrifies me. But, today, on that phone...He didn’t do it. He wanted to save you even at the cost of the world. And I’m so proud of you.” Finally, she turned and reached a warmed hand to Rose’s cheek. “I was so scared I would lose you too. But you were there, telling ‘im and myself to suck it up, the world’s at stake.” Rose watched as her eyes softened into puddles, small tears leaking out as she sniffled. “So-” Jackie pulled her hand back at placed it on Rose’s knee, giving her two small pats before retreating entirely. “-go on. Go save the world, go be Rose Tyler. Just come home once in a while. Let me know your safe.”

Rose felt wet tracks flow down her cheeks as she gazed at her mum. And she rethought her earlier thoughts. If there was one thing she was certain of it was that Jackie Tyler was the best mum she could have ever asked for. Without a hint of hesitation she launched herself into her arms, ignoring the small protest of alarm as Jackie’s tea sloshed in its cup. “Oh, mum. I promise.”

She felt arms tighten around her in a brief, firm hug. And when they parted she could see a matching smile on her mum’s face. “Go on.” Jackie nodded to the door. “Better make sure he doesn’t run off again.”

“Thanks mum.” Rose chuckled and reached for her jacket. “Really, thank you.”

She didn’t look back as she left, too overwhelmed to even consider the idea as tears continued to leak from her eyes. And then, of course, that’s when she saw it. Plastered across the TARDIS, in bright white paint.

_BAD WOLF_

Rose took in a shuddering breath, her lungs catching in the midst of their pull. Why would Bad Wolf send her a message? She already knew what would happen. She already knew what she would have to do. Slowly, she stepped forward, creeping up to the letters with a shaky outstretched hand.

“Rose!” Quickly, she dropped her hand, spinning on her heel to face a panting Mickey Smith.

“Oh, Mickey…” She stared at him, awkwardly holding her hands by her side as he caught his heaving breath. “Um, hey...Thanks for-” She paused, turning her eyes down to stare at the small blue corner of the ship just in her peripheral. “-earlier.”

She looked back to the boy, still not quite as grown up as he would be. But, he had figured out the bomb on his own, a small voice reminded her. Whatever was going to happen, or had in his case, changed how he reacted to this time. And Rose felt a flutter of pride for him, and a tiny stab of shame. “That came out wrong...I really mean it Micks, you saved the world.” She beamed at him.

He stood watching her for a moment, dark eyes darting across her face then back to er smile before his own lips quirked up. “Well, all in a day’s work.” He shrugged, feigning nonchalance as he leaned back onto the opposite alley wall. 

Rose chuckled and turned, shaking her head at his fake calm. Inside, if she knew Mickey, he had probably been a panicking mess, still unused to the environment he would soon find his footing in. “Well, I’m proud of ya.”

“Really?”

“Yea, course. You saved us.” She shrugged, leaning back to mimic his pose, while also covering the bright letters that were burning into her back. Begging her to look back at them. She resisted, instead looking back to Mickey and frowning at the hope shining in his eyes.

“So, guess that means I am useful after all.” He brushed a hand across his neck.

“Of course you are. Why wouldn’t-”

“Well, I just thought you ran off with that alien bloke-” His face screwed up in disgust as he looked behind her, and Rose felt her hackles rise. “-because I didn’t have anything to offer.”

“Mickey!” She warned.

He raised his hands, eyes suddenly wide at her own voice. “Alright, alright! I get it. Just, last time you visited you made it seem like-” He paused, sighing and staring resolutely behind her shoulder. “Listen, I’m sorry for what I said last time. I know you aren’t like that with ‘im, but I was jealous, okay? Your my girl.”

Rose felt her teeth clench, her jaw locking at the words. “Mickey, I’m _not_ your girl. I told you.”

“Yeah, yeah but I thought-”

“No, Mickey. I’m not anyone’s girl, okay?” She sighed and pinched her nose, forcing herself to take slow, calming breaths. “Look, I just think we need to grow up. I love you Micks, I really do. But not like that. And I think you’ve known that for a really long time.” He was safe, back then. And everyone expected them to be together, it was one of the reasons she decided to date Jimmy instead. Rose Tyler, always trying to forge her own path. And then, after everything, she relented. Because she cared for Mickey and she knew he would never break her heart. It was good. But it was never enough; not for her.

“I’m sorry, Mickey.”

“No, no..” He shook his head, as he turned toward the entrance of the small alley. “No, I-I get it Rose. Listen, I’m...I’m glad you’re okay.” And without another word, without a single glance back as she called his name, he ran from her and into the busy street.

Rose slammed her head onto the TARDIS doors with a sigh. And then she fell back with a yelp as it was pulled out from under her.

She landed against a firm chest and looked up into blue eyes. “Have a good chat?”

Rose pushed off of him with a huff and glanced at the door. The words were gone. “Well-” She brushed herself off and stepped towards him as he moved to let her in. “It was fine-wait. Were you listening?”

“No.” He turned, shutting the door behind her, and stalked up the steps towards the console. 

“No?”

“No, I wasn’t listening.” He pulled a screen down to face her, the outside of the TARDIS playing on its face. “I was watching,” he grinned down at her.

Rose rolled her eyes and followed after him, leaning against the coral as she watched him fidget with the controls. “Oh, watching. Well as long as you didn’t hear anything…” She reached and smacked him across the arm as he drifted nearer.

“Oi! What was that for?” He rubbed at his arm. “Bad as your mum, you are.”

“Oh, please. No one’s as bad as her.” She slid up next to him, leaning on the console as she watched his hands dance over buttons and levers. And suddenly, she was reminded of the last time they were in the TARDIS, her hand against his cheek as he pressed his cool fingers into her palm. Her mind reaching out into the space where his would be. She shook herself, instead turning her eyes to his jacket, watching his arms flex under his movements. “Besides,” she took a breath, finally bringing her eyes back up to his. “You need to learn when conversations are private.” 

“Sure, blame me.”

“And why shouldn’t I?”

“Well, I was waiting for you, Besides, you were the one talking outside the TARDIS.” He shrugged.

Rose smirked and leaned her shoulder against his, watching a small smile tug at his lips. “So you were watching for me?”

“Waiting,” he corrected.

Rose nodded along and smiled. “Of course, sorry. You were waiting for me.” She hopped up onto the console, smiling as she felt a hum brush across her mind. “How sweet.”

“Well, I figured you’d appreciate it.” He reached into his pockets, hand clenching around something before slipping back out. “Besides, I think I’ve found somewhere where we won’t have to risk your life for the good of the people.”

“Do tell.” Her eyes darted down to his hand then back to his face.

“There’s a plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Already set the coordinates. Figured I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it then ride the shock wave all the way out.” He reached for her head, placing her palm face up. “And just in case something does go wrong…” She felt something drop into her palm.

It was her key. The same light silver, unassuming, key he had given her all those years ago. It’s cool metal filled with the familiar pulse of time that pressed gently into her skin with a smooth vibration. She curled her fingers tightly around the small thing, pulling it to her chest. She already felt her tears beginning to return and had to glance away to collect herself.

“Figured, this way you’ll always be able to come back-if we get separated,” he added. “No leaving this time.”

“Y’know what this means?” She smiled up at him, her heart beating in her chest. And she could feel the TARDIS in her ears, her presence suddenly filling the space between them. “You’re stuck with me.” She pulled her tongue between her teeth and beamed.

He smiled back, blue eyes brighter than she had seen before. “Better with two, yeah?” And with that he slammed down on the lever, sending them spiraling through space.


	12. Dalek

She couldn't say that things had been easier. In fact, most days she had struggled, balancing her new-old life with the Doctor and her knowledge of the future was like holding a stack of plates, each day adding another on to the pile. Some days she barely noticed, content with drifting around in the odd dance she had found herself learning. Other days she was forced to crawl, each word carefully chosen as to not alert him of anything odd. It was on those days where she would purposely get lost among the forgotten corners of the TARDIS. The stress and fear,  _ the nausea _ , too much to bear. And the regret, the regret was the worst. It left her lying awake at night, remembering eyes different than the blue she was slowly growing used to again, but just as haunted, just as pained. 

The TARDIS tried to help. The spark of gold in the corner of Rose’s mind would often glow brighter when the bad thoughts chased sleep away, and guided her to the many hidden nooks of the ship that she was certain the Doctor didn’t even know about. More often than not, she would find herself in the library, pushing down feelings of unease and worry with a book, or a splash of paint. Art and literature filling the space in her that used to be dispelled with the rush of adrenaline or the thrill of the unknown. She wondered if she had become domesticated, a pet locked up in the spaceship and corralled into her small pen. It was nice at least, she couldn’t begrudge the ship that. Her space filled only with a soft, if worn down, leather chair and side table faced a widow leading the occupant’s eyes out into the cosmos, and stacks and piles of books and shelves surrounded the space, blocking off all intruders from finding it unless they knew where to look. 

The first time she stumbled upon the nook it had been a shock. The leather chair was so obviously worn down from use that she had assumed the Doctor had been the one to use it, the secluded space and leather an obvious fit for his brooding personality. It wasn't until they returned from a particularly harrowing adventure, one she was sure reminded him too much of the trouble she had faced when he first took her on board, did she realize that his brooding wasn't channeled into quiet reflection, rather he worked it out through his hands. Steady, despite the fuming she could feel emanating off of him, his hands worked themselves raw on repairs that she could tell were only for the benefit of something to do than actual usefulness. The chair, she then discovered, had belonged to him but not  _ this  _ him. And the TARDIS had given it to her. A gift, or an apology, she wasn’t sure quite yet what it was meant to be other than hers. It was somewhere to sit when she received another strange text from the even stranger Professor, or when she and the Doctor inevitably clashed over her safety and, on the rare occasion,  _ his,  _ and that was fine with her. 

And as the days passed, she found more of his past life; a pair of gloves, a small clutch, and once a notebook filled with torn and used paper written in messy scrawls. The memory of another person still clung to the fresh pages, the scent of perfume and pressed ink wafted to her nose every time she so much as glanced at it. And with every object she found another piece of the puzzle that was the Doctor fit into place. He had a penchant for finding interesting people, that much was certain, but other than the few belongings she found scattered in far off corners and forgotten shelves there existed no other trace of life on the ship. She had asked the TARDIS, of course, if their rooms still existed- _ they did _ -but hadn't dared ask if she could see them. Because if she did, then everything he had said, about Alistair, about Sarah Jane, about  _ her,  _ would suddenly mean more than an excuse. And the guilt and regret would return.

She stayed in her corners, her hidden paths and rooms, a ghost on the ship she used to call home, and a part of her still did, but rarely was she seen until the Doctor dragged her off to another adventure. She should’ve felt more guilty about leaving him to his space. Leaving him alone except for when the anger and pain manifested itself into terror. She couldn’t drag herself to care, one way or the other, because she still felt guilty for all the things she couldn’t tell him, and for all the things she didn’t understand. She had tried, under the TARDIS’ insistence. All of her attempts had failed miserably. Every time it ended with her saying too much or saying nothing at all, and his own frustration would rise in them both. 

Rose flicked her phone open and closed, listening to the snap of its case. The steady rhythm worked wonders for her anxious thoughts, but did little to quell the distinct pull of loneliness she felt settled into her bones.

She sighed and stretched in the large chair, pushing against the leather until it creaked. She felt the low pressure of the TARDIS fill her mind and, despite her worry, smiled at the comfort she brought. The ships glow wrapped her mind up in its warmth and sang a song that simply melted her fears away, reminding her to stay calm.

She wished she had the Old Girl’s confidence.

The TARDIS hummed. She sighed, burrowing further into the chair. Thoughts of the Doctor, of the past and future, and bubbling in her stomach melted off of her in rivets of quicksilver until she felt nothing but the warm light wrapped around her mind-and a cool hand on her arm.

She almost jumped out of her chair. The cool hand released her as she jolted awake, the warmth of the TARDIS present but not nearly as enveloping as it had been. And with her fading came the Doctor's presence. 

He stood, back firmly pressed into a shelf and arms crossed, not quite next to her but close enough that her neck pulled as she looked up towards him. Vaguely, she wondered if he was always going to be tall. Her brain recoiled at the thought, shutting down any notion of her finding out, after all, regeneration wasn't something she would most likely ever see again in her lifetime.  _ And his past selves would never... _ She didn't know how to finish the thought. Never  _ what? _ Meet her? Like her? 

She shook her head, ignoring the way he followed the movement, a question clear on his lips. "Sorry," she supplied instead. "What's up?" The words seemed odd on her lips, far too casual for the two of them despite weeks of travel.

He looked taken aback, like he wasn't expecting the question. Rose rolled her eyes and moved to straighten up, stretching the ache in her back.

"I'm done with repairs." He shifted and when Rose met his eyes she noticed, with a smirk, that he had been staring at the slim space of skin that had peeked out from her shirt. His eyes darted up to hers and widened. "I- uh. I was wondering if you wanted that trip to the Mars colonies? I told you we'd go but then-" His eyes fell to her seat. "-Is that my chair?"

She started. Logically, she knew the chair was  _ his,  _ but knowing that the chair was used in a past life made the words of possession seem odd falling from his lips. "Is it?" She asked, and promptly cringed. The TARDIS was his, technically. Everything in it belonged to him, except for her and the ship’s own soul.

"What are you doing in it?" 

"Painting," She gestured to the long forgotten canvas and paint she had set up days ago. Clearly, she hadn't really been painting, the blank paper and clean brushes a betrayal of her inactivity. She had meant to. But every time she found herself settling into the warm comfort of the chair her thoughts would drift and she would spend hours wrapped in her own head, time lost to her. His eyes had followed her hand. A look of skepticism passed over him as once again she found her thoughts swirling. "Er, I had meant to but then...Well, the TARDIS and I were talking." It wasn't the whole truth, in fact her and the TARDIS rarely 'conversed', more like the ship would envelop her in emotions until she would calm down or change how she acted. It was useful for making the Doctor believe she was new to this life. It felt like having a cheat code.

"Oh." He turned and avoided her eyes. 

"Still not talking about that?"

"About what?"

"Doctor," she sighed. "I'm a telepath and you don't know why. We can talk about it." She shrugged, hoping beyond hope that at least one thing between them could be as simple as a conversation.

He locked his jaw. "Of course we can talk about it." His body began to fold in, shoulders pulled up and arms clenched closer to the centre of his chest. He was uncomfortable. And, if Rose were anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed how his jaw ticked with irritation, his eyes chilled over. Deep down she understood his hesitation over the subject. The loneliness of his mind and his need to understand everything around him, and the blame he felt for putting her in this situation. But the front of her mind recoiled in irritation and anger. 

But the TARDIS pressed coolly into her mind and a wave of calm crashed over her.

"It's not your fault." She stood and cross the small space between them. "Maybe, I was telepathic before." She wasn't. "Or maybe I was always meant to become telepathic to save your a-"

"Rose. It's not-" He pulled in a breath and she watched as the air expanded throughout his body until it left him limp and leaning against the shelves. "I'm looking into it. I'm figuring this out."

"Do you have to?" 

"What?" He looked stunned, like he couldn't believe the question that escaped from her lips. And maybe she shouldn't have let it out, but she was so tired about talking about her, about things she couldn't tell him. She knew who had changed her-her mind flashed with brightly painted woods slathered across blue wood. She wanted to learn new things, the exhaustion of weeks of familiar planets and adventures weighing down on her shoulders. The knowledge of who would die, and who she saved from untimely death, dragged at her eyelids, bruising them with nights of restless sleep and worrying daydreams. She wanted to know which  _ him  _ had sat in the chair, if he had ever been short enough to look into her eyes without either of their necks straining, or if he ever attempted to whisk Alistair away like he did with Sarah Jane or if the offer was made half-consciously like with Mickey. She wanted to know all the things she never got to ask him. 

But, she had found herself cowardly when it came to him. Words stuck on her tongue, swelling under the dryness of her throat. So she didn't ask, she didn't tell him. "S'not a big deal. I don' want to get rid of it, if that's why you're looking." She felt her accent thicken in a way it hadn't since before she lived with Pete. If she wasn't busy worrying her lip she would have grimaced at the unflattering sound.

As it was, the Doctor didn't seem to mind instead he stood staring down at her an unreadable look flitting across his eyes. "That's not why." He let out the breath that Rose hadn't realized had been stuck inflating his chest. "Months with you and I still can't figure it out."

"Figure what out?" She stepped closer not caring about the pull in her neck.

"Nothing." He shook his head.

"Doctor?"

"No. It's nothing." His small smile was disarming, distracting enough to erase the question from her mind. It was rare to see a genuine smile from him in this body. Something she had missed sorely when he began handing out his grins like spare change. To see such a small thing, not put up in the pretense of an illusion of things being okay. He really believed that it was nothing, or at least whatever it was he was looking for was less for her and more for his own amusement. She wasn't sure how to feel about that, but the look of ease that relaxed his features calmed the stirring in her chest.

She bit her lip. "So,  _ your _ chair?"

"Oh. Yeah, suppose it is." 

"Then how come I've never seen you use it?" She stepped back to lean against the arm of the chair. Her hand came down to lightly brush against the torn fabric and exposed cotton. "It looks pretty well used."

"Well, nine hundred years of living, maybe my taste in chairs changed," he said and once again Rose had to remind herself that he still wasn't completely open to her. And wasn’t that  _ fair  _ when she wasn’t honest with him? His eyes darted down to the tea set with a melancholic expression. She held her tongue, pressing it between her teeth as she watched his grin slowly fade. 

It didn't stop her mind from wandering. Who exactly caused that pain? Her hand itched to smooth back the creases that had begun to reform on his face, the harsh lines pulled at his face until the man from mere seconds ago was replaced by the one weighed down by a millennia of pain. It was easy to forget just how broken his hearts were. 

And just when she decided to give into the urge to hold him the floor shuddered.

Rose didn't think about why she was clinging to him, the motion so natural in the face of danger and the TARDIS shuddering and buckling definitely fit under 'danger'. She simply let her body follow her extended hand until she fit against his side as the shelves rattled next to them. His own body slotted around her protectively. His sadness replaced by confusion, although the lines creasing his face stayed firmly in place.

"Doctor?" She didn't remember this happening, at least not so soon. Memories of Pete's World came, unbidden, to the surface of her thoughts and a cold shot of fear plunged her stomach into the floor.

The walls shook, and shuddered, and groaned with a pained hum and then everything was still.

Rose didn't trust the silence. Quickly, she pressed her mind further toward the small spark of the TARDIS that always remained in the corner of her mind only to be met with a gentle apology. "What was that?" She asked, both to the TARDIS and the Doctor.

The ship didn't respond, however, the Doctor's grip tightened. Through clenched teeth, he responded, "Something pulled the TARDIS out of the vortex." His hand slid down towards hers. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

She followed him to the console room without hesitation. Her own curiosity overriding her caution. In the moment she was glad for it, the churn in her stomach and the taste of copper at the back of her throat pushed to the back of her mind, but a part of her, a small minuscule part that often was more right than wrong, knew she was going to regret running headfirst into another unknown. The small part reminded her that she should be practical, knowing the future only did so much and then you find a situation where it does nothing but make you foolhardy and brash. But she was always running. That's what they did. So, when the TARDIS shook once more, landing with a distinct thud, she thought nothing of letting go of the Doctor's hand and pulling the doors open.

And found nothing but a dark room.

_ Huh.  _

Dark rooms weren't uncommon for them. She couldn't count how many times they had landed in the middle of a closet or hole in the middle of nowhere but landing in a dark, unfamiliar room caused a flurry of bubbles to turn her stomach. "Where are we?" She held herself in the door, unable to take the step forward.

"Utah," the Doctor answered from somewhere behind her. And Rose was filled with dread, begging him not to say-"2012."

And then her entire body froze. 

_ No. No, not now.  _

There is no way to describe the pain that passed through her in that moment. Her eyes filled with white. The day had been fine. Everything had been _ fine _ . He hadn't left, they almost never got separated anymore, and if they did it was because she knew where and when she had to leave. And even if they fought, even if they weren’t as close as they could’ve been- But never...they never had to-She wanted to scream and cry all at once. The deep twist of guilt and grief pulled at her lungs and forced her breath up and out of her body until she felt her face burn under the need to breath. Her stomach rolled.

"Rose?" 

Hold hands shocked her back into her body. "Fine. I'm fine," she swallowed, unable to look anywhere but forward into the darkness. She let her hand reach back, the need to be grounded brought her palm to his. The darkness ahead the only barrier between her and the thing that haunted her nightmares.

She had never had to fight against her instinct so hard. Normally, the urge to run or fight fell into place locked tightly with conscious thought as she realized just what she needed to do. Sure, there were times where she would face a creature, or alien, or even human of the worst kind, and her body would  _ beg  _ her to run but she would hold off just enough to stay by the Doctor's side. Those times were paltry compared to the screams that rippled through her in that moment. Every cell,  _ every atom,  _ tore away from the darkness telling her just what could happen if she took one step closer to the  _ thing  _ that stood somewhere within those walls. Just standing at the precipice of the plunge took enough willpower to cause her muscles to clench as her mind repeated over and over- _ Run, Run, Run... _

A golden light pushed through to her, unseen but always present. The TARDIS' mind wrapped around hers. And the tension eased enough for her to realize she had dug her nails into the Doctor's skin hard enough to make any human bleed-and he was staring at her with a patient, if not incredibly confused, look.

The cold sweat that clung to her neck was as uncomfortable as his stare. But she simply released his hand and wiped it away before turning back to the dim room with a sense of determination. "Sorry, just had a bad feeling..." It was far from the perfect excuse, and the sharp tug at her consciousness from the ship said as much, but her energy couldn't be wasted on making him less suspicious.

A tugging sensation settled in her stomach as she took one step forward, then another, until she was firmly and decidedly outside of the ship and on solid tile. The room lit up in a slow flickering of lights, obviously set to some sort of motion detector. Rose couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or not. On one hand, she could now see which room they had landed in. On the other, it was the very room that held a clear case, with a bright metallic head peering out unto its audience.

She didn't scream. She didn't run. She didn't do any of the things she had thought she would have upon seeing a Cyberman once again. Instead she stared at the head with a sense of morbid fascination. For all the panic in her body, Rose couldn’t manage to look away. Not even a half-step or turn. No, her eyes remained locked, rigid, stuck straight on the head, unwavering under its own blank gaze. Emotionless, in life and death.

“An old friend of mine. Well, enemy,” the Doctor called from behind her, his voice nearly enough to break her trance. “The stuff of nightmares, reduced to an exhibit.” He tsked lightly and pulled her away. Her feet followed despite her eyes attempt to remain locked on the head, too afraid that she would look away and its sockets would continue to follow. However, he soon enough broke her gaze by slipping his hand into hers, the cold touch a light shock and a reminder of where, and when she was. With a stuttering inhale, Rose centered herself and ignored the heat she felt press against her back as they walked away from the exhibit. Despite her attempts the tugging and churning of her stomach refused to settle and she was forced to ignore it in favor of pressing her head against the smooth leather wrapped arm of the Doctor.

Together they walked away from the TARDIS and toward the other exhibits, each grimacing as they passed. A Slitheen arm. A damaged ship. A stuffed Kloxan, poised with its claws and teeth accentuated as if the harmless creature were as ferocious as a wolf. How one came to earth she didn’t know, but the sight alone set her face into a deep scowl. And the Doctor’s face matched. His own eyes darted across the glass cases and his hand began to squeeze her until she felt a light prickle under her skin. Any other time she would have pulled him to a stop and asked what was wrong, or told him not to break her human bones in an attempt at humor. In the moment she felt no inclination to disrupt the sting of pain, finding comfort in his anger and a sense of grounding in his grip. Enough to remember her place in this adventure, one she sadly would have to follow.

“Who would do something like this?” She asked, cringing as Van Statten's slimy face appeared in her head without warning. A man, so full of hubris that he didn't realize the danger he had placed himself and his employees under until it was too late. 

“Someone very rich.” He quirked a brow at the half-hidden cameras that laid deep in the cracks of the concrete walls. “And  _ very _ private. Look at the walls, concrete, thick, and filled with moisture.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we must be very deep underground, and no signals can get out. No human ones anyways,” he murmured, lightly tracing a finger over one of the walls.

“So how did we get dragged here?”

He raised a brow and looked down his nose at her.

“Right, alien then?”

“Most likely. Cry for help, no one would want to be stranded at the hands of these people.” His free hand came up to reach for one of the exhibits. Before he could even attempt whatever he thought he was doing, Rose had snatched his hand away, the sound of sirens echoing in her memory. It wouldn't do to get caught now, not when she already knew what was there. His eyes darted to hers for a second before he relaxed with a sigh and continued to drag her down the room, using his free hand to pull out his sonic instead.

Rose smiled wryly to herself. “Do you mean humans or just the owners?”

“Both on occasion. Don’t worry, I don’t lump you in with the lot.”

“I’m flattered.” 

He gave a tight grin in response and led her to the heavy doors at the far end of the hall. "We'll have to be quick. Can’t be too sure what they'd do to me if they caught us." Rose blanched and stepped back behind him as he raised the sonic. “Or you for that matter,” he murmured.

_ They have to see it, didn't they?  _ She wasn't a believer in anything really, no higher power at least, but in that moment she wished for nothing more than divine intervention. The steady, sad hum that pressed into her mind crushed those hopes into dust. How many were going to die because of it, because of  _ her?  _ Her throat closed off. 

With a screeching sound the doors slid open and revealed a dark hallway. Rose stared into it as a sweat laced her brow and neck. "They're going to notice us. Just walking around the place like this?" Rose swallowed her fear and turned to him, focusing on his eyes rather than the hell ahead. It was unnatural, the way her body trembled and shook under all her layers. But the image of a future, one she had lived and would live again, would not let up its grip on her mind. She needed to think, to be smart about this. She had dealt with the Gelth, and the Slitheen, even Cassandra; she needed to deal with the Dalek. 

The name itself shut down her brain, enough function had ceased that she didn't even notice when the Doctor raised his sonic towards the cameras, an explanation rolling off his tongue and missing her ears. 

She let out a watery breath and blinked.  _ It was just a creature.  _ This one wouldn't hurt her, she knew, but she would have to be the one to touch it, to  _ free  _ it. Unless...

_ No.  _ She was many things, but she would not take away its chance. She had let Margaret run free, the Dalek- _ that word burned her mind  _ \- would be no different. 

“Doctor?” She whispered into the air. The need for him to focus on her, to take away her thoughts too strong to ignore. She wished he could be the rational one this time, take the burden of their future onto his shoulders instead. 

He turned, sonic screwdriver glowing bright blue in the empty halls with a small, persistent beeping noise. “Rose?” His eyes looked brighter under the light. And with it she could see the furrowed lines of his brow, and the soft crinkles of age and worry lining the corners of his eyes. A reflection of her fear mirrored on his face. A vestige of war. She didn't know if that was a comfort or, if it was, what that said about her. 

They stood at the edge of the room, one step closer to the Dalek's cage. The shadows licked at their feet, but Rose hardly noticed the darkness surrounding them. Instead, she took a deep breath and let the unwavering gaze of the Doctor spur her forward. The calm assurance she needed gently, if unknowingly, supplied by the simple look he gave her and the reminder of the forgiveness she would force him to endure. The Dalek didn't deserve it, but the Doctor did. Suddenly, it wasn't important what role she would have to play, not if it would soon erase some of those lines he held on to so tightly. Side-by-side they marched into the lion's den. His eyes darted to each small blinking light, and with a flick the cameras whirred off. Her eyes remained locked on him, focused on the twitch of his brow, the pull of his lips, the way his face formed the picture of concern masked tightly underneath false indifference. She caught him when he looked towards her, clearly wondering why her own face was contorted as if she had eaten something rotten. Of course, he wouldn't have guessed that it was the taste of copper pulsing against the back of her throat. Nonetheless, after the first few times he kept his eyes forward, nervously blinking under her watchful gaze.

Under her fear she wondered if that was always how they looked, one looking forward the other watching in absolute wonder. Jack had photos, so many photos, that he used to tease her about. Her eyes glaring at him behind the old shutter and the Doctor's on her.  _ Stalking with his eyes,  _ he used to call it. She understood now, the need to watch, to ensure he was real and there, and no matter what her fears wouldn't take him away. The Dalek wouldn't take-

Her eyes began to water and only then did she look forward, blanking at the dark hall that seemingly stretched on forever in front of them. 

"Tell me about Alistair," she said, suddenly. She didn't know why, maybe she needed the distraction, maybe she really did want to know. The only thing she was certain of was the sharp tug of wrongness she felt pulling behind her navel.

"I thought you had forgotten about that." Her eyes wandered to his, briefly meeting as he scratched behind his ear. 

"Human memories aren't  _ that  _ short."

He let out a slight chuckle and pulled on her hand. Slowly, step-by-step, they slinked down the hall. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart," he began, his quiet voice had taken on a low, serious timber as if the name itself was a secret. Rose couldn't stop herself from leaning closer. "I met him in the seventies. We didn't get on at first."

"Oh, so it’s not just me you have fights with."

"I resent that, we haven't fought in weeks-"

"-hours, you mean." And that was only because she had been hiding out. A sad smile pulled at her lips. One day she would make it right, make things easy between them. “But I suppose I’ll take a fight about saving your arse over you running off again…”

The Doctor let out a huff and pulled her to a stop. "Rose Tyler you are far too stubborn for your own good and far, far too cheeky."

She did genuinely smile then, her tongue poked out between her teeth as the bubbling in her stomach made room for a flurry of butterflies. "You say that but it's what got you to like me, didn't it?" She pulled her key out from between her breasts and waved the chain up at him. “Remember, you’re stuck.”

He rolled his eyes. “ _ As I was saying, _ Alistair and I didn't get on, he liked to end conflict with guns and I didn't."

Rose watched as his face took on a dreamy look. The shadows seemed to melt off of him. It was startling, to say the least, how easily his body seemed to relax into his memories, the dazed, fond look in his eyes settled into his shoulders and left her hand in a loose grip. It was like the fear had washed off of him. Cleansed from the terror that still held her in a vice grip, a steel cage around her ribs where his expanded freely in the air. She was a bit jealous, but all the same glad. 

"Sounds like an interesting man."

"He was, probably still is."

"Doctor..." She bit her lip, unsure whether she could tempt his easy countenance. Ultimately, she would ask him, whether it be ten feet from a Dalek or years from then. She needed to hear him say it. "Why don't you visit?" 

It was slow, the transformation that overtook him, as if he was waking up from a dream. His hand tightened around hers and the lines darkened once more on his face. She would say she made a mistake if it wasn't for the short answer he supplied her. "Because I can't bear it."

Rose nodded. The words unsaid but still present in the crack in his voice and the painful way he held onto her hand. She understood, even if she wished she didn't.

Their footsteps clicked against concrete and tile, a silence settled over until the faint buzz of the air and the rumble of the earth surrounding them became all that was spoken. Rose had never felt so lonely next to someone. She was leading him down into the dark to face his worst enemy, and her worst nightmare. The little solidarity she had begun to feel from his words dripped off of her in beads of sweat, clinging to the back of her neck under the cool pressed air yet shaken under her trembles. She couldn't be sure but she felt as if they moved at a snail's pace, each step harder than the last-

And then he stopped, and along with him stood her heart. The doors were the same, the chipped white paint that read: _ THE CAGE, _ in stenciled script was the same. Even the air tasted the same, that tang of old earth and metal that clung to her tongue. 

Rose Tyler was a lot of things, and she was going to be a lot of things in the future. A coward had never really been on that list, but staring at the thin metal door knowing what was behind it had made her metaphorical tail tuck itself between her legs. She wasn't a coward. But she was scared. 

_ Right, _ she squared her shoulders and set her jaw in a tight clench.  _ She could do this.  _ She had to. The Doctor needed her and she trusted the TARDIS to bring her exactly where they needed to go.

He flicked his wrist, the door clicked, and Rose looked up into the darkness. And promptly wished she hadn’t.

The first thing she saw was a shadow. Unmoved by their entrance, and unwavering in its stare. Blue and red bounced off a shell of copper, slipped into dents and cracks as if filling in for purple bruises and bloody cuts. It was pitiful. It was terrifying. The remnants of war the the Doctor hid so carefully behind constructed walls and false smiles were worn plainly on the Dalek's false skin. Instinct told her it was dangerous, the marks of a warrior, a murderer, a voice in her head screaming-

_ Run, run, run… _

But she saw  _ it _ . The scorch marks and ashened case that bleed into darkness. The weakly held eye stalk, barely lifted to watch them enter. And the chains, wrought tight enough to break human skin. She once held pity for it. The creature the Doctor had wanted to kill, the broken thing who had pleaded to die. The Last Dalek. 

It could have been her stuttered breath or the loud drum of her heart. It could have been the Doctor's weak "no". It could have been the whirring of the lights as they slowly woke up and dropped streams of light into the chamber. Whatever it was it caused the Dalek's eye to raise and widen as it stared into their faces. It's brain, trapped inside the dark, began to think and Rose realized it as soon as it did. Their was very little in ways of a Dalek to express emotion, but recognition was easy to follow. It's entire being shifted focus. The weakly held body seemed to straighten itself and turn, however minutely it could, until it faced a stricken faced Doctor. And a small, tinny voice whispered into the room, “Doc-tor?” 

He didn’t move, not an inch-not even a breath. His hand remained firm around hers but no longer felt like a comfort. Instead he was a cage, keeping her rooted to her spot. When he finally spoke it was hollow, not an answer but instead an astonished, haunted whisper of his own. “Impossible.

The Doctor shifted at her side, his sonic raised threateningly in front of him. A glare settled on his face, pupils blown wide and a sea of black against white greeted the Dalek's blue. Her body was shoved unceremoniously behind him, her feet tangled in cable and wires as her knees locked tightly together under the tense air that pressed down from above. If the Doctor had been angry at the Slitheen he was furious. The easiness he had once filled himself with at memories long forgotten had vaporized and been replaced by set shoulders and tense wrists, a body coiled and prepared for a fight he couldn't win. 

The Dalek screeched in fear and anger. “You are the enemy of the Dalek! Ex-ter-min-ate! Ex-ter-min-ate!” The stalk raised.

Instinctively, she reached out and wrapped her hands around the Doctor's arms and tugged him to the floor. And she braced. When all that followed his grunt and huff was the clicking of metal plates, Rose opened her eyes and raised them to meet his. Shock settled over his face as he stared back.

“Doctor? Are you-are we-?” She shifted off of him to stare over her shoulder.

The Dalek stood still and quiet. If Rose didn’t know any better she would think it too was shocked. Their decidedly not-ash bodies splayed in front of it. Defying it. It’s stalk twirled and zoomed, a whirring click following the movement as it adjusted its singular eye down at them. And with it a cold wash of fear came crashing down on her. 

A barking laugh startled her. “It’s not working.” The Doctor's voice turned sour, lips quirked into a twisted smile and a glint in his eyes that forced the hairs on her arms to stand. Rose watched as he pushed himself up and pulled his body to his full height, glaring down at the Dalek with all the hidden contempt and rage that boiled under his skin. A reminder to her that she stood in a room with not one, but two beings far more dangerous than they seemed. “Powerless. Look at you.” He stepped forward. “The great space dustbin. How does it feel?”

“Get back!”

“Doctor!” 

Her voice was buried under the cry of the Dalek. Twin cries of fear and pain drawing at the Doctor's attention. His eyes, cloudy with rage and hurt, met hers from above. For a moment she faced the Oncoming Storm, the flickering shadows behind his eyes danced for a moment, undecided on whether or not she was to be spared. And then the black softened into familiar blue, still cold and distant, but light enough to relax the weight Rose hadn't noticed was pressing into her chest.

“Doctor, please, stop." 

She scrambled to her feet and reached for him, ignoring the way the floor snaked across her ankles and the heavy weight that settled across her chest, she needed to get him out.  _ Forget it.  _ She changed her mind, she couldn’t do this. Forget the Dalek, Van Statten, whatever the TARDIS had dragged them there for, she could handle her fear but not his. Not this memory. Her fingers grazed his jacket, and just as she opened her mouth to continue her plea, she saw it. A small, blinking light perched in the corner of the room. Hidden in shadow and tucked away as to not draw attention to the camera, clearly sat in waiting. "Oh, no."

"Rose-"

"Doctor, there's a camera in here." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An apology is in order, for everyone following this story. I'm really truly sorry I haven't updated since early November, i really will try to be better about it this year. In other news, Happy 2020! Hopefully this chapter lives up to months of waiting, the next should be up within the next week if I'm not an idiot. Thank you all for the kudos and comments!


	13. Dalek: A Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope everyone is staying safe, I had wanted to get this out sooner, especially because of quarantine. I hope this helps stave off the boredom even if just for a moment. Please, stay safe, wash your hands.

Slick sweaty palms slid against the cool, unbroken tissue of his own. His skin lay still, frozen in time, like the beat of his hearts as he looked down on her face. In one hundredth of a second he could watch the slow bloom of red flush her pink cheeks, her pupils widen under the low light as she grasped for vision in the darkened room. He could hear the pounding of drums in her chest and the extension of her lungs, the all-too terrifying moment of pause as they listened to the blaring sirens he had long ago tuned out in favour of a far more calming sound. Her voice. Quiet, and hushed in the stale air. And quick to voice its sweet sound even under the simmer of anger and fear.

Anger.

At him, no doubt. He had shown her, _again_ , how dangerous he was. But no matter how much the thought of scaring her away made his own skin prickle with heat-a strange feeling he refused to analyze even in the months after he had left her outside her mother’s-he could not forget the feeling of the creature’s eye. 

_The Dalek_ sat behind them. Its own body turned away, most likely in fear of the storm it could sense rising in his mind. A mind easily filled with regret and anger. Too easily, nowadays. The emptiness in his head echoed the vestiges of screams left from splintered Time. Reaching, slowly, for the tendril of his companion and missing its golden thread each time.

Another second passes. She blinks. He watches her lips round, mid-speech. And the boil of anger fails to recede. Instead it festers, deep in his chest, as the rolling wave of fear grows into an ocean to combat the heat. 

He is not afraid to speak his fears. Not after living through war, where fear kept him alive. But he is afraid to voice the feeling that accompanies it; worry, possibly, or something else-he just knows it isn’t for him. 

But he doesn’t focus on it, instead the burning in his chest roars. The Dalek should be dead, would be if she would let go of him, if she would stop pleading and begging and his hearts would stop stuttering. They don’t, instead they cave and buckle under the weight of her desperate gaze, and his body follows.

He lets her lead him out the doors, towards the humans who are undoubtedly _safer_ than a Dalek if not more stupid. He lets her push him first, warm hands, heated like she’s been sitting under the sun, curled into his jacket, a jacket he had once worn out of necessity and now wears like as a symbol of pride- because _she_ said she loved it. He feels his world tumble and spin as he tries to right the anger, to let it go, instead of screaming like he wants-because he screamed at her once, he let her go and then he chased her- _because she cried_. Still the heat persists. The memories-the heat of Gallifrey, warmer than most years under the onslaught of siege, the faces, children barely in their first decade of life-young for humans, even younger for Gallifreyans-his brother in his arms, regeneration energy crackling through broken bones and bloodied teeth. 

All because of a machine designed to destroy him. _His fault._

His own teeth clench, tongue bathed in the taste of blood. The warm hand on his back fades, and it isn’t until he hears the sharp, unmistakable sound of metal slamming shut that he realizes why. He looks up to see her hands raised in capitulation as the glint of steel hits the corner of his eyes. 

He follows suit. And the anger shifts into worry.

* * *

He didn’t notice when she pushed him out the door, only followed her movements and his eyes blazed in fury and contemplation. She knew what he was thinking of, had seen it the first time and many times later, and for a moment she was thankful for those memories, because they let his dense body pliable to her movements and his mind unoccupied by questions when she began to lead him out. 

From her experience a distracted Doctor was rarely a good thing. But for once in her life she was grateful for the mindless storm that resided inside him. Briefly, she felt guilty for the thought. She wanted to argue that it was fine, if he was so mindless then she could talk their way out and get them back onto the TARDIS. They could _leave_. Nevermind why the ship brought them there in the first place. Bad Wolf and the Daleks could piss off for all she cared, she just needed him safe. 

The Dalek’s scared voice didn’t affect her. It _couldn’t_. Not after what it did. It’s quivering was a ruse, she reminded herself, a farce meant to tug at the poor-stupid-human’s heartstrings. 

Well, it won’t work again. 

Even if this Dalek had only wanted to see the sun.

She shook her head as subtly as possible in front of the small armada that now stood in front of them. She had removed her hands to raise them timidly in front of her. However, the small group of armed men and women didn’t seem to buy into her meek expression, instead, they flicked their guns to focus on her and the Doctor’s faces. 

Finally, it seemed the Doctor’s mind had snapped back to reality as he too raised his hands. The hard lines on his face settled into an eerie stillness that pulled a breathless laugh from her lips. She was so wrong if she thought he would let them leave without dealing with the Dalek. She was tempted to scream.

Instead, they were led, in firm grasps and silent expressions, to a familiar office hosting a familiar man. And a familiar boy, who quirked up at the sight of her. 

Rose sighed. Adam looked the same, of course he did. Soft brown hair, and innocent eyes hiding the menace underneath. She swore to herself she would not be inviting him along this time. No need to repeat past mistakes. And standing next to him-or, well, _sitting_ -was the very same Van Statten that Rose had grown to despise. His lips were pulled in an amused, if flat, smile as his eyes traced over the two of them, lingering rather dangerously on her chest. She wondered how punching the lascivious smile off his face would feel.

The Doctor, seemingly, noticed the stares and stepped forward, partially blocking her from the two men’s views. “Well, I’m guessing one of you must be the man in charge. Care to explain your little exhibit?”

Van Statten’s eyes narrowed and snapped to the Doctor, his smile disappeared under a deep set scowl. “Care to explain what you're doing in my _exhibit?_ ” He turned to raise a brow at Adam, tilting his head forward. 

“Oh,” the boy said, stepping forward. “This is Mister Henry Van Statten.” He paused, waiting for recognition that neither Rose nor the Doctor deigned to give. “He owns the internet.”

Rose laughed. The idea was still absurd even years later to her. She has met plenty of people who claim to own things no one person could possibly manage. From planets to entire species of creatures, to a supernova frozen in time. But the internet was so intangible. She shook her head. “How can anyone own the internet?”

“Oh, she’s English!” Van Statten perked up, ignoring her question. The leer was back in his eyes along with an amused twinkle. “Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend.” 

Adam, for his part, looked a little embarrassed. But, he refused to say anything even under Rose’s own brand of frown. “She’s not for sale,” Rose gritted out.

“And wit too?” Van Statten continued. “You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty.” The man looked up at the Doctor with a smile. Then he gestured at them with two of his fingers, the appendages wagging as he spoke. “You want to tell me who you are, and how you managed to finagle your way in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice.”

The Doctor stepped forward, pulling her hand to lead her up with him. “'fraid it's the other way around, I'm the eye-candy.”

Rose smirked. 

Van Statten’s own mouth twitched down into a scowl. “So you both like jokes. Well, ha ha! Now, I suggest you tell me what exactly you were doing speaking to the Metaltron, and just who you think you are.”

The Doctor’s face continued to smile, although Rose could see that glimmer of his storm rising underneath. “I’m the Doctor, and you, Mister Internet, do not have a ‘Metaltron’ locked up in your museum of curiosities and exploitation. You have a Dalek. And you are sorely mistaken if you think you can cage it.”

Rose’s eyes darted between the two. Van Statten’s face had turned a bright shade of violent scarlet, while the Doctor’s remained calm and pale. Just looking at them anyone would guess the moustached man was about to lose it. But Rose looked closer and recognized the twitch of the Doctor’s hand. It was as if he was preparing to either hit the man, or grab her and run. Desperately, she hoped for the latter.

“And how do you know about the Metaltron, how did you get it to speak? It said you were its enemy. What does that make you?”

A bad feeling bubbled in her chest. Slowly, she reached for the Doctor’s twitching hand. The soldiers and guns pressed to their backs suddenly present in her mind. She looked to Adam, the boy avoided her gaze to focus absentmindedly on the musical instrument lying on the wide desk in front of him. Hopelessly, Rose clung to the Doctor unable to shake her worry.

The Doctor did not react. “What does it matter? That thing will kill you and every living thing in this building unless you let me deal with it!”

“Deal with it? Doctor-” Van Statten raised a brow and shrugged when the Doctor refused to respond. “Well, Doctor-whatever, I think you have severely underestimated me.”

“You humans know nothing of what that _thing_ really is.”

“ _‘You humans?’_ ” Van Statten’s eyes flashed. “Interesting. Well, Doctor, you know what I think? I think I know enough to deal with you, your little assistant, and run my exhibit just fine. If you won’t tell me how you got it to speak then I’ll make you.” He tilted his head and looked past them to the guards behind.

Two men grabbed hold of the Doctor’s arms as another pulled her off of him. She kicked out, pushing the man’s arms off of her as she reached back for the Doctor. But the man was trained for this far longer than she was, and he seized her in a tight lock, pulling at her hair until her head was yanked backwards.

Rose screamed. She screamed until her throat felt scratchy and sore. And then she screamed some more. “Doctor! Stop, you can’t take him! Stop!” She kicked and flailed as the Doctor was hauled away by his arms. Her nails raked down the man’s arms until hers too were pulled behind her back.

The Doctor met her eyes over the swarm of black vests and shook his head. “Stay there. I’ll find you Rose, just stay!” Eyes wide and glassy, pleading as they took him away. 

Rose watched and fell limp. She felt one of the hands gripping her slip loose, and she pulled herself free in a desperate attempt to catch the Doctor’s retreating form. She made it four steps before she was hauled back by the collar of her jacket. Her body slammed against the floor. She could feel a twinge in her ears as the world rang with a high-pitched shriek. And the Doctor disappeared around a corner.

“What-” She turned to Van Statten, hands propped up on the ground, head dizzy and weak. She groaned. “What are you gonna do to him?”

“Never you mind, girl.” He stepped around the desk, slick black shoes clicking on tile as he pace around her prone form. “Although, there’s no guarantee you’re human either. Tell me, what do you know of the Dalek?”

Rose swallowed and looked down. “I don’t know anything.”

“Hmm-” He paused, hands behind his back. Then with a sudden jerk he turned over his shoulder. “English! Take her out of here. She’s your responsibility until I get back.” Without a word more, he swept out of the room leaving her alone with Adam.

He held out his hand to help her up but she simply glared in response and pressed her pounding head to the cool floor. Everything had gone pear shaped. It’s all wrong.

She needed a plan. She needed the Doctor and the TARDIS to have never come here. She needed to think.

_What had happened last time?_

Last time she was an idiot and let the Dalek out of its cage. She had killed all those guards and soldiers who had pulled the Doctor away, but she hadn’t wanted to. They were innocent, they had helped her and Adam as they ran towards the Doctor. Towards safety. But the Doctor had been dragged away after he had chatted with the Dalek. Just like now. 

So what-

Rose sucked in a sharp breath and pushed herself up. “Oh no.” 

She scrambled to her feet and leaned against the desk. Her hands trembled as they curled around the smoothed edges of the wood, wishing for pain to snap her into her senses. She had to be crazy.

No.

She wouldn’t-she couldn’t…

It had been her freeing the Dalek, hadn’t it? When Van Statten finally realized he was in over his head. That was the only way she could make the foolish man think sensibly and ask for the Doctor’s help.

She shook under her racing thoughts. Maybe, they weren’t too far off. She could catch up with them and...And, something. She had to do something, she couldn’t let it go. Not after-not when…

For once she wished she was still nineteen. She wished she could listen to her own words and feel compassion like she used to. She used to be so good at forgiving and forgetting. The Nestene, Cassandra, even the Gelth, manipulative creatures who only want for themselves, but they were still _people_. They desired for selfish reasons-revenge, vanity, control-things she knew all too well. Hell, she used to be a teenager, she was more than acquainted with all of the above. But the Daleks, they were driven by anger and nothing else. And, maybe it was her own anger that held her back but the rage that spilled in that small room was enough to fill her nightmares and send her running. It was overwhelming, the way a Dalek could look at you and make you feel fear and rage in equal measures. The difference was she used to act on her anger, push back the fear and charge headfirst into danger. It had been to save a Dalek once, and then to destroy thousands later. Now, she feels the pull to run, to escape. The same feeling she had felt buried into her chest when she was certain she was destined to never find the Doctor again, when the stars went out and the end of the world was placed on her shoulders. 

Her heart weighed heavy in her chest. She slumped back against the desk until it pushed painfully into her lower back and she excused the tears forming in her eyes as a response to the pain.

“Come on.” A hand tugged at her arm. When she blinked she saw the blurry image of Adam looking down at her. His hand tightened around her as he tugged her forward. “I have to take you out of Mister Van Statten’s office. I’m Adam by the way.”

“Rose,” she answered distractedly, letting her body follow him out into his own office. A small space, covered in abandoned wires and broken down parts stripped from crashed ships. 

He sat her down at the workbench and plopped himself across from her. His shoulders hunched as he fiddled with something in his hands. Her eyes turned to the movement and Rose smiled sadly at the instrument. “You’re holding it wrong.” She snatched it up before he could ask and began to play the few notes the Doctor had bothered to teach her. Her smile faded at the small memory. The image of the Doctor, tied up and waiting for her useless arse to come save him, flashed in her mind. 

“How-?”

“It’s an Athyra. A wind instrument that uses-oh, what was it he said?” She shrugged and handed the metal and rock back to him. “I don’t know, something like vibration and skin? The Doctor’s the expert.” 

Adam stared down at the Athyra in his lap. “He’s not human.”

“No,” she sighed. “If you’re gonna ask, I am. Although, I don't think it's my humanness that makes me trustworthy to be left alone with you.” Her eyes traced over the room, noticing the lack of cameras and guards. “Some prisoner I am.”

“Mister Van Statten knows what he’s doing. There’s only one way out of the compound and he’s just going to erase your memory so there’s no bother in letting you off with just me.”

“Oh, that’s comforting.” Glad she’s low risk enough to be left with Adam as a guard, although the man she had scratched earlier might have objected if he could.

“It’s better than being toted around by an alien.”

Rose felt herself heat up at the tone in his voice. The same condescending tone she had heard all too often when people assumed her relationship to the Doctor. The slightly disapproving words and pitying looks. Even when he had changed his face when people realized she wasn’t as smart as him they assumed the worst about her, and the looks turned stern and judgmental. 

Her fist tightened. “You know nothing about me an’ him.”

Adam raised his hands placatingly. “Listen, I meant no offence, okay. Just you’re well…”

“I’m what?” She stood. “No, go on. Tell me.” She turned her eyes to him. Anger and frustration pulsed through her and then she paused. 

Behind him sat an array of monitors. Some filled with static due to her and the Doctor’s meddling, others spied into rooms Rose had never seen before. And one, the centre of them all, sat the screen peering into the Dalek cage.

Something in her chest pulled at the sight. The Dalek had shrunken in on itself. Wrapped in irons and strapped to a torture machine, it had nowhere to go. No Daleks would try to save it. It wasn’t in their nature. And she remembered. When she was nineteen she had seen it screaming in pain, begging against its design to be free. No longer a machine, it was living and it was suffering because the Doctor had refused to let it free.

“Bloody hell,” she whispered. The image burned into her eyes, and suddenly her rage faded into pain. She knew, deep in her soul, that she would regret letting it live alone in the dark. She cursed the TARDIS for ever bringing them there, she cursed the Doctor for getting them caught, and she cursed herself and her dumb heart.

And then, once all the cursing was done, she decided to do something stupid.

She punched Adam.

Adam hit the floor like a sack of flour, his fall a lot quicker than she imagined and a lot louder as his head hit the tile with a smack. For a moment Rose stood in shock and stared at his prone body, then she twisted her fist checking that nothing alien had happened to give her super strength. Seemingly, she looked and felt normal so she supposed his fall was a mix between her surprise attack and the training she had that he, evidently, had not.

With a surprised huff she silently thanked Pete and pressed two fingers to his pulse. She counted the beats and let the flutter of her own heart settle before she stood back up to turn to the monitors. It seemed like Van Statten had dragged his guards away to deal with the Doctor, believing, falsely, that she wouldn’t try to do anything stupid. _Jokes on him._ However, the cage had been resealed, though it was left unguarded.

Her eyes darted across the screens, searching. She smiled as she found what she was looking for. 

Up in the corner, about two hallways down, a camera was placed inside what she could only imagine was a control room of some sort. A fat, older man sat squat in his chair towards several cameras attached to a control panel. By the gentle rise of his chest and the flop of his head Rose could see he had dozed off-lucky for her-and he had left the controls free for her use.

Rose rolled her shoulders and calmly strolled out of the office, picking her way over Adam as she attempted to perfect her mask of calm. It was easier than she wished, the same mask she wore while fighting to find the Doctor had hardened over the years until fear had barely made her flinch. But the use of practiced slow breathes pulled memories to the surface and forced her to stop just before she exited into the hall.

There was no going back once she stepped through the door. She would have to save the Dalek to save the Doctor. She knew she couldn’t control what the Dalek did, at most she could convince it to stop by using the human DNA it had- _would_ -absorb from her by facilitating its fears. 

A warm hum flooded her mind and filled her lungs with a breath. When she opened her eyes and blinked she felt her fear had been swept to the side and contained by the singular, familiar golden presence. “Thanks girl,”she whispered. “But I’m still angry at you.” An amused hum answered and once again Rose stepped into the hall.

The hallway was as quiet as it had been when they had first arrived. The silence, however, lacked comfort but at least let her think more thoroughly about her plan. 

She had only needed to touch the Dalek to set it free. That was simple, it was convincing to stop killing that would be difficult. Those soldiers, guards, whoever-they had been, who had pulled the Doctor away had been its victims. For months afterward she had had nightmares of blank eyes behind cracked helmets. Black armour stained deep with red and soot. Pale skin. And later, white walls. 

Adam’s selfishness and idiocy had been a blessing in disguise at the time. A way to vent her fear into anger and disgust. And an excuse to spend long hours near the Doctor, ranting and raving, until she slipped into a much more peaceful sleep. But now she didn’t have that-and not for the first time she wondered if Bad Wolf was a punishment. If this was her hell.

Before she knew it, or even noticed, she had reached a large door labelled quite clearly: _Security._ With a breath she turned the door and stepped inside.

The door creaked open and for a moment she froze, uncertain if the man at the desk was still asleep. Then she heard a long, loud snore break the silent air. Rose sighed and relaxed. 

Creeping over to the control panel was easy, years with the Doctor, then later Torchwood, had led her to be light on her feet and her boots barely made a sound as she neared the sleeping man. However, neither of those really prepared her for the disorganized and coded mess that was the brightly lit buttons splayed out under the screens. She presumed it was by design and not the laziness of the security team. Still, the sight almost made her groan. 

Huffing at the sight of the board she turned her attention to the sleeping man. It was possible he had a keycard on him. But she had been hoping that pick-pocketing would be a last resort. Ultimately, it came down to time. If she waited and tried to figure out which buttons did what she would risk him waking up or someone getting to the Cage before she did. So, her hand crept into his pockets, moving as slowly as she could manage until her hand pressed against a thin, plastic card.

Withdrawing her hand, now with the keycard in its hold, she watched his face for any sign of movement. When she was finally free, she turned and slinked back into the hall. Without any further preamble she took off. Her feet went flying as she raced towards the Dalek.

And then she was there. Skidded to a halt, worn down boots shredded down from use slipping on linoleum as she stared. The key slides against the reader. And the doors opened with their loud, screeching sound. Her shoulders raised as she waited to slip in. The worry of being caught sent a tingle down her spine. The door opened into darkness. A Dalek eye peered out at her.

She turned, and felt the same pulse of apprehension she had felt the first time she saw it. Back then she was so small compared to them, the Doctor and the Dalek, beings part of something much bigger than a pink and yellow human. Even now, she stood still but hunched as if she could mimic the innocence of that nineteen year old girl. As if that innocence had been the thing to save her from the Dalek’s wrath. Her legs lead and sluggish as she stepped further into the lion's den.

They were face to face in seconds. 

Her heart pounded in her chest. It’s pulse a rapid beat loud to her ears and made deafening in the silent buzz of the room. The Dalek, for its part, did not speak. Nor did it move, other than to shrink back into its rattling chains, stilling until the clang of metal quieted. And she in turn stared back, taking in the sight before her. 

Strangely, she felt a stir of pity in her chest and slowly she felt her spine straighten, Daleks weren’t particularly tall in design, barely her height when they stood face to face, but this Dalek seemed tiny in comparison. She remembered what had made her decide to help it the first time. The way it shrank as it screamed against the burning electricity that pulsed through it. This time, it has not received that pain in front of her, but the way it pressed against the wall made her wonder. She traced over its injuries. Dents and scrapes along its flank worsened as it pushed against its chains. Its armour thinned under her eyes.

“You’re scared, aren’t ya?” She murmured.

It did not speak for a long moment, not until she stepped forward. Then, as it pushed itself further back it’s voice returned, “I am Dalek. Daleks do not fear. Daleks do not feel.” She saw it shake as her boots clicked closer to its hull. 

“You’re wrong. I’ve seen it. Daleks feel, they feel rage and fear. I’ve made them feel.” The image of a Dalek, older than the Earth, shivering under the heat of Time shifted through her mind. A memory of the future and past, a memory of Bad Wolf. Her breath stuttered, and then the memory was gone. Rose paused before continuing. “I’ve met Daleks who shivered in fear, who quaked and shook under my words.” It wasn’t her humanity that made it fear, was it? She looked it over again, stepping forward to test its cowardly shake. 

The Dalek’s stalk turned to her. “Will you kill me?” It’s words were spoken without lilt, nothing to give away fear or acceptance, simply fact. 

Rose’s breath hitched. She had asked herself that same question. She had wanted to, at first. Some part of her rebelled against running away and had wanted to watch this Dalek turn to dust. She wanted it to pay for something it had not done. But that wasn't right, it wasn’t fair. And it wouldn’t help the Doctor. She needed the Dalek Just as much as it needed her mercy. 

She looked down at her palm and shook her head. All it took was a touch from her, and the Dalek would be free. The choice was easy. It was her fear that held her back from making that choice. She clenched her fist. It would save the Doctor. It was the right thing to do. “No, I won’t.” Her hand connected to its shell, and for a moment all she felt was pain.

“ _Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!_ ”


	14. Dalek: Exterminate

The slow crawl of fire burned a trail up her arm and faded into a tingling sensation as it cascaded down to her toes. It was familiar in the sense that some small part of her remembered the feeling of burning alive, but not the adrenaline that pulsed through her veins under the weight of fear. It was unbearable. For a moment, she was back on the space station, a burning lever searing and stuck to her melting hand. And then she was facing a room of Daleks, with another lever and a burn in the tears running down her face. All at once, the pain coursed through her and all at once it stopped.

Rose pulled back with a gasp, clutching her hand to her chest. A throbbing pulse tingled in her hand, but the sight in front of her is what drew her attention.

The Dalek stood, shining under a golden light. She watched in astonishment and wonder as its body hummed with energy, shaking under the weight of its pseudo-regeneration. A loud snap echoed throughout the air, startling Rose and causing her to jump backwards. Another snap followed. And then another. Slowly, the dents in the Dalek’s shell snapped and popped back into place. It’s metal flexed unnaturally reforming until the buckling ceased and the Dalek stood. It’s eye blinked and swiveled, clear and no longer filled with the downcast expression of defeat she had thought it had held.Their eyes met. Rose felt the rise of fear shot up her spine and sent her heart racing. A small voice in her head was screaming, telling her this was stupid and to run. But she stood firm. 

It’s voice broke the long stretch of silence that followed, raspy and metallic. It left the taste of copper at the back of her throat when it spoke.“Why?” It pushed forward, chains snapping under the weight of a fully formed Dalek. The metal links fell to the floor with sharpened, broken metal snapping at her feet. It’s voice turned small and inquisitive.“Why?” The Dalek backed her up until she almost tripped over her own feet. Its stalk pressed towards her face and whirred lightly. Then, suddenly, it backed away and screeched, “You are human, inferior to the Daleks! You must be exterminated!” The glow of blue washed across her face. 

Impossibly, Rose thought of those video games Mickey used to play. An ironic sense of irony that her brain would remember the small bit of trivia that she had never bothered with before. In his games you could always tell just when to dodge, as the turret turned from soft blue to a bleeding red laser. Mickey had always made it look easy. The Dalek didn’t do that. It simply raised its laser arm and aimed, a slow hum vibrating through the air as it readied to fire. And she did not dodge.

In fact, she couldn't find in herself the ability to look away. If Rose had learned anything it was that looking away, backing down, from death did little to stop it from happening and even if you wanted to it was a bit like watching a car crash. The knowledge of what would follow in those brief moments of standstill time. Funny how terrified she could feel and yet it did nothing to move her feet. Instead, it filled her head with visions of white and gold and her heart with a gripping loneliness she had grappled with for what felt like years. If the Dalek killed her there would be no reset, no more jumping back in time, no future with her Doctor where she would be ripped away regardless. And what a terrifying thought that was; a decision, almost, between instant pain ending with the swift destruction of her atoms and the long term knowledge of ruin she would face once again.

But it wasn't a choice was it? Because the Dalek couldn't kill her, just like the last time. As she watched time snap back into focus she saw the glow of the Dalek recede, and its arm shake at its inability to fire.

Its screaming response shattered the hollow focus of her sight and pulled her back. “I will exterminate! I will destroy!” It’s arm spun wildly as it burst into fire at random points within the room, all narrowly missing her. And that’s when she decided to run.

Rose turned tail and raced out the open door into the dark halls. “Exterminate! Exterminate!” The Dalek cried from behind her.

She felt her heart pound against her ribs. _Idiot!_ She had no plan on how she was going to get away, nor how she would stop anyone else from getting hurt. Her head burned with her thoughts, she could only hope Van Statten was a bit smarter than he had let on. A steady, if quick, beat set her feet to a rhythm as she soared down the halls and up the flights of stairs, hoping that the Doctor would be able to seal the doors as soon as he was freed. But no sirens had gone off, and as she raced down the halls she saw no one in sight. The warm heat of panic began to rise in her as she swiftly darted down the corridors, searching for someone, or something. Just behind her, she could hear the whir of Dalek treads. It was slower than her, but the volume of its screeching voice pierced nonetheless as it continued to cry out, “Exterminate!”

To top it all off, she could no longer feel the steady comfort of the TARDIS’ golden threads in her mind. As she reached out, begging to know where the ship was, or even where she could find safety, she was met with a wall, hard and sturdy with a slight copper tinge biting at her tongue. The starkness of her empty mind almost froze her. She hadn't realized how comfortable she had gotten knowing the TARDIS was with her, and now she was utterly alone as she raced down the white and grey paths. 

And then, like a miracle, she heard the blaring siren ring throughout the facility. The lights turned into an angry red that washed the white of the walls and floor away. 

Rose let out a small breath of relief, and promptly crashed into someone. 

“Adam?” She stared at the boy in shock as he steadied them both.

“Rose?” His eyes met hers and she winced at the darkening bruise under his right eye. His eyes widened as he took her in and looked back over her shoulder. His jaw hung loose and wide as a distinct look of horror passed over his face. The reflection of the Dalek's laser blurred through the black of his pupil. “What did you do?”

Rose looked back to see the gleam of bronze turning the corner. Her hands shot up to grab Adam around the shoulders and turn him away. “No time! We need to run!”

“Is that the Metaltron? You let it loose!?” His eyes turned wide and wild, their redness popping out as he stared incredulously at her.

“I said, no time! Adam, we have to run!” She pulled him after her and took off for the stairs, hoping to slow the Dalek further. Her mind ran with her, trying to remember just what she did last time to convince the creature to stop while still freeing the Doctor.

Together they ran, his clammy hand held tightly in her own as the Dalek whirred and screeched after them. Rays of light chased them down the halls, exploding under their feet and over their heads. Adam screeched as sparks rained down on them and Rose winced as her ankle twisted as she tried to drag the boy up the stairs. 

She could feel the heat of adrenaline begin to fade into a heavy exhaustion. Her legs slowed until Adam was the one dragging her, despite it being her hand that clenched to his. Slowly she exhaled, attempting to control her breath. It was like being back in high school, forced to run laps until either she collapsed from exhaustion or the bell rang signalling the next period. Running with the Doctor had forced her to learn how to breathe all over again, her lungs too ‘human’ to last as long as he could without the proper technique. But she hadn’t needed to utilize that in a while. Whether that be out of luck from their relatively calm adventures, or because he had refused to take her anywhere too dangerous after her stunts with the Gelth and Slitheen. But now she was running a marathon-one that had the added pressure of her memories fighting to freeze her up- and now the painful weight on her chest was reminding her how desperately she needed to stop and breathe. The scream of lasers over her head reminded her how unlikely that would be.

Adam turned to look over his shoulder with wide eyes. “It’s catching up!” He screeched back at her.

Her wheezy breath stole away any retort she might have had. 

Black spots whirred in front of her vision. A deep panic settled in, the Doctor’s voice reminded her of the stages of asphyxiation, and she began to feel herself grow cold with fear. That is until she noticed the shapes growing larger and more defined, until they stood meters away and Adam slid them to a halt. A sea of black uniforms stood in front of them, staring from under helmets and hats with hands pressed to holsters and settled around guns. 

"Civilians," one man called to the others, though their arms remained tensed and aimed.

“Oh, thank God!” Adam cried, yanking his hand out from under hers. She felt herself wobble from the movement and hunch over as a sudden breath of air forced its way back into her lungs with a gasp. Adam looked away and towards the soldiers, his own breath staggered as he spoke. “She’s crazy! She let the Metaltron loose! It-it shot at us and then, we ran but it’s coming this way.” He sucked in ,ore air and stepped towards them, reaching for the collar of one man’s uniform. “Please, it’s going to kill us. It was screaming. Screaming! I’ve never heard it talk before, but it did and it’s voice-”

“Ex-ter-min-ate!” The Dalek’s voice, filled with creaking anger echoed down the hall.

Rose watched as Adam shivered and huddled closer to the soldiers, placing himself behind one as he cried out. “See! It’s trying to kill us! You have to stop it.”

“No!” Rose gasped and looked up with sudden realization. If anything she couldn't let these men die because of her. _Not like last time_. She squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden intrusion of her memory, visions of burnt bodies lying prone a staircase down from her. 

When she opened her eyes, barely quelling the queasy churn of her stomach, one of the soldiers had stepped towards her. An older man, with stern lines surrounding his mouth, and a familiar face. Rose swore he had been one of the soldiers who had pushed her back from the Doctor as they dragged him away. Sure enough, just under his helmet she saw three long, angry scratch marks, raw and red from her struggling.

She swallowed, unsure how willing this man, amongst the others, would be to listen to her. She wasn't a soldier in this universe, and she wasn't the daughter of their director. They didn't know her. But they couldn't fight the Dalek, she knew that. She had to make them understand. “You can’t,” she continued. “That’s a _Dalek._ Guns won’t do anything! We need to find the Doctor, he’s the only one who can stop it.” 

The man who stepped forward leered at her, his lips curling into a sneer. “And what would you know?" He looked behind him to Adam. "He's saying you freed it, why would you do that if it was dangerous?"

Rose sucked in a breath. "Listen, I didn't-"She sighed, unsure of just what to say. She couldn't pull a lie out of her like the Doctor could, she was always much better at playing innocent and stupid. "I was trying to find the Doctor, I didn't know the Dalek could be freed! It was an accident, i swear." She held back her wince as the man stared her down, disbelief clear in his eyes. "It doesn't matter. It's getting closer and you can't kill it. It's not from Earth, metal bullets will do nothing to its shell. Please, you have to believe me."

"Listen, Miss," the man started. "My job is to protect every single person in this facility, even you and your alien friend. So, if that thing is as dangerous as you say it is then i have to go and stop it. Regardless of what you think." He reached for her and yanked her in close. Hot breath pressed against her face, fogging his own visor as he leaned down to speak in low tones. "Now, either you get out of the way, or you get taken down too." With that he shoved her aside and turned an arm up to gesture towards his men. One by one they filled past.

“No!” Rose reached to grab at one of the uniforms. They were going to die. This wasn't what she wanted. She felt Adam grip her arm and pull her off one of the remaining soldiers. “Stop! Stop, it’ll kill you!” She cried after them struggling out of Adam's hold. All of a sudden the breathlessness that she had shrugged off returned, sweeping the air from her in a chilling grasp. She felt the weight on her lungs drag her to the floor, as more and more soldiers swept past, unwavering in their stances.

Adam’s hands pulled her off the ground and tugged her after him, but she continued to stare as the Dalek rounded the corner. it's voice screaming as the group hunkered down and began shouting back.

The stern man spoke in bellowing tones. "Stand down! We will not hesitate to shoot!" He stood his ground as the Dalek rolled closer, and Rose felt her ankle roll as her body turned to look.

The Dalek took one look at the small wall of men, and it screamed. It's arm raised, and the man dissipated in a flash. Ashes floated to the ground and the silence broke into a hail of bullets. It was a massacre. Just like it had been last time, only now it really was her fault. One of the men tried to run, his eyes meeting hers in a brief flash, and then he too was gone. His mouth had been open, as if to scream, but she couldn't help but imagine it was her name he was calling out, as if in blame. Tears filled her vision.

Finally her eyes pulled themselves away from the sight and, at the risk of her lungs collapsing, she ran. Through blurry vision and choked tears she ran. Adam steps ahead of her.

“We need to find the Doctor, now!” Rose tightened her hand around Adam’s and turned enough to see his flushed face. But no tears filled his eyes, they were wide and dilated with fer instead.

“I don’t know where he is! Van Statten doesn’t tell me anything, I’m just the assistant.”

“Then we need to get to his office, we have to shut the Dalek out, and we have to stop anyone else from going after it!”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. If _anything_ , Van Statten’s going to try recapturing it.”

Rose felt her heart sink. “Well then he’s an idiot.” _And so am I._

She looked back to see the edge of collapsed black boots and bodies disappear around the corner. She felt a pang in her chest and pushed the sting in her throat down. She pushed herself to run faster, her legs burning as she hopped up the stairs two at a time.

Her pocket buzzed and she felt an immense relief wash over her as she pulled her phone out. “Doctor?” If he was calling her then that meant he was free. They could stop this and go home.

“Rose?” His voice came through thick with fear and anger. She let the wash of his voice stay her tears. “Rose? What did you do? Where are you?”

“Doctor-” Her breath stuttered. He was angry at her, she knew he would be angry, but she had thought-The face of the scowling soldiers appeared in her mind, and the sting came back. She should have been faster, she should have gotten them out. Her eyes burned as hard as her lungs did and she barely managed to gasp out an answer, “I’m sorry-Doctor, please-

“Where are you?”

“Stairs,” she gasped. “Doctor, it’s right behind-” The wall in front of her exploded with a shower of sparks.

“Ex-ter-min-ate! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!” 

The Doctor’s voice screamed from her phone. “Run, Rose! Run for your life!”

They reached the next landing and slid around the corner, back down empty halls and red washed light. But, Rose’s legs were burning, and she had been running for so long. Adam’s hand had grown slick beneath hers and as she stumbled and tripped under the buckling of her legs, he slipped out of her grasp.

She didn’t think he even looked back as he ran towards the next set of stairs.

“Doctor-You have to stop them from going after it. it killed them, you have to-" The floor rumbled under her as the Dalek touched down behind. "Doctor, I'm sorry."

“Rose, listen to me! You have to get up! Rose!”

"I'm sorry. I was too slow."

If it were anything else she would have been sure, completely and utterly certain, that she would survive. They had always managed it, and knowledge of the future had tipped the odds in her favour. But it was a Dalek, and even with her DNA pumping through it's circuitry, she couldn't be certain. So she squeezed her eyes shut and flicked her phone closed before the Doctor had to hear her possible demise.

“Exterminate!”

* * *

The steady tone rang through the office air in a single, monotonous beep. Incessant and irritating as it surrounded the room with the sound. The hushed breaths of the humans surrounding him weren't enough to drown it out. Even his own hearts, loud as they often were in his ears, barely registered above the damned sound of the call cutting off.

He stared at the phone in his hand, plastic popping under the weight of Time Lord strength. The sound of her voice, quiet and terrified, repeating over and over in his head. Overlaid with undertones of a goodbye-unspoken but barely there, waiting on her breath as she apologized. She had apologized-to _him_ -as if it were owed, as if he were the innocent party in their relationship. Whatever that relationship had grown to be.

_She was nineteen._

Barely an adult in human time, a child compared to him. The notion of her age made his stomach flip in unease, and the phone crinkled further under his shaking palm. The beep stopped. He could feel the breath sweep out of the humans' lungs. Some part of him wondered if it had been as quick as an exhale, if the Dalek had been merciful, however unlikely that could be. He had thought of thousands of ways he could lose her, in the short months of their acquaintanceship-but they weren't quite that were they, always on the edge of something else, before she would draw back with that strange sadness in her eyes. Or he would run, like he always did. Off to hide in his little box, away from the Time Lords, away from the Daleks, and now away from a human girl who was d-

He was half-certain the sound ringing in his ears was from the crunch of shattered glass under his palm. 

He knew so little about her. He knew she was brilliant, smarter than she let on. He knew she was a painter, she liked to read romance no matter how cheesy, and always cried at the final scene of a movie regardless of its sadness-the humanness of her empathy never failed to make him smile. She reminded him of pink and yellow, roses on a sunny backdrop, even though she tended to wear more blue than anything. And she held a sadness, under her tongue in teeth smiles and crinkled brown eyes. But he didn’t know her favourite colour-blue he supposes-he doesn’t know why she quit her A-levels, or why she stopped gymnastics. He never asked. 

He never asked why she seemed so alone even when she smiled. He never figured out her telepathy, or even told her why he didn’t want to.

He wanted to take her to so many places.

Maybe Barcelona would have been next. Now he would never get the chance.

“She was nineteen.” His fist hit the desk in front of him, the pain of electric lashes on his back flashed angrily under the movement. It was nothing compared to the twinge in his hearts. But it reminded him of the tiny flutter of human hearts surrounding him. A rabbits beat under the distinct taste of fear in the air. Inefficient, his brain supplied, unstable, to have one heart when they so easily broke. He looked up at the source and met the eyes of a coward. “Nineteen. I told you, I told you it was dangerous. But you didn’t listen did you!” 

Henry Van Statten. Claimed to own the internet, when he was really just another rich boy playing off a false sense of power fueled by the weight of his pockets. An idiot. No more a man than the boy who had been at his side. The one who had held Rose and pulled her back as she reached out for him.

The fury in his soul seemed to burn brighter at the memory, how desperate she had been to save him. An alien who had done nothing for her in all the time they had known each other. He forced himself to maintain his grip on it, the storm crawling under his skin begged to be released. For the fury and pain of nine lifetimes to be inflicted on the human who had torn her away. The shorter man seemed to cower under his darkened gaze. A brief haze of satisfaction rolled over him. His shoulders pulled back as he looked down at the man, his lips curling with anger as tears pricked at his eyes. “She’s gone! She's-she's dead. They’re all dead! Your soldiers can’t stop it, nobody can! You let it live and now its free."

“But-”

His fist slammed against the desk again and Van Statten’s mouth snapped shut with a hard click. “Look at your facility, the Dalek’s draining its power with every shake of it’s tin body. It’s in the internet! Sucking up all that information and readying itself." He paused, and took a slow breath. Habit, now, rather then necessary. But it helped him calm down and reign in the simmering heat under his skin. "What’s the nearest town?”

The man stepped back, shocked by his shift in tone. He answered all the same, “Salt Lake City?”

“Gone, the entire city will be decimated.”

He let his words sink in and watched as not only the coward shivered in fear, but his hired help did as well. Secretaries and soldiers, all unaware of just how precarious their positions were, quivered under his stare. And a blessed solemn silence followed.

“How do we stop it?” A woman, meek and blonde, whispered form the back. Her eyes trained on him instead of her boss. He could taste the salt of the tears rolling down her face. A stirring of pity, small and hidden under his right breast, sparked and pushed aside the anger. And he found himself once again on Gallifrey. A woman no different to this one, apart from the added heart, staring up at him with hope and desperation in her eyes. A small child huddled against her side.

He hadn't been a soldier then, he hadn't known what the answer was. And maybe he still didn't. In nine hundred years he had learned that there was never really an answer to the worst situations, only the best solution. And that was long gone by now. The best choice would have been for him to have destroyed that Dalek and taken Rose as far as possible from Utah, 2012.

But she was gone.

He looked to the human and counted her heart beats. “No, no. Not _we._ No one else is going to die because of one man's stupidity.” His eyes locked to Van Statten's, waiting for the man to flinch before he spoke. "Call them off, close down this sector if you have to. No one else goes near that thing. And find me the biggest gun you have."

The human looked at him in shock. And he felt the slow crawl of darkness he had tried to suppress roll over his shoulders and curl his mouth into a manic grin. Another mask set over him as the remains of a soldier set into his brain. “You can’t possibly-”

“Oh, I can. That thing has destroyed _everything_ I care for. There is nothing I can’t do to stop it!”

Van Statten stepped back, the once confident man cowered under the weight of his gaze. “We don’t know where it’s headed.”

He smiled, condescending and sharp. “I do.”

* * *

Rose’s eyes stayed clenched as the seconds ticked by. She could hear her heart, the treads of the Dalek and the whir of its eye, but not the sound of her body disintegrating. Nor did she feel the burning of her flesh or smell the char of her bones. In fact, she felt very much not dead and a hysterical laugh bubbled up from her chest when she opened her eyes to see her intact body.

Rose pushed herself up and patted herself down, checking just in case the Dalek had managed to hit her. But as her hands patted her sides she found no ache or pain except for the desperate gulps of her overworked lungs.

“I’m not-you didn’t kill me!” She let her hands fall back against the floor to support her. Her eyes raised to stare in shock at the Dalek.

“I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose.”

“But you didn’t! You killed them, those soldiers, but you can’t kill me.” She shook her head and furrowed her brow. Just like last time. It had worked, somehow she had managed to save the Doctor and not die in the process. But-“They’re all dead because of you.”

The Dalek stared her down. “They are dead because of us.”

Her heart plummeted. The Dalek was right, of course. She knew what would happen, _she knew_. But she had freed it anyway. The feeling of her brain being squeezed between a wall had reemerged, and suddenly she felt like she was drowning. 

So strange, to have been flooded with relief over not dying only to feel yourself be torn apart. 

The face of that soldier came back, his smirk, her scratches. And the boy that had tried to run, with her name on his lips. She tried to fight it, tried to tell herself that the boy didn't actually say her name. But he was screaming nonetheless. And her mind kept replaying the scene until she drowned herself in intoxicating regret, plunging into the icy cool waters of sobering sadness. A poetic flow of emotions suffocating her out. A betrayal floating across her train of thought-the TARDIS would have stopped this, she would have pushed the worm in her head out. The TARDIS was gone, the Doctor was gone. Rose was alone, clutching her head in bloodied palms.

“I feel your regret, and your fear. So many emotions in a human mind.”

She felt the pressure on her brain increase, and the glint of freezing steel pressed further into her head. Rose gasped in pain and understanding. The feeling of a Dalek, cold as steel and as empty as a black hole wormed its way into her mind and she was reminded why she had hated the idea of the TARDIS being telepathic so many years ago. “Stop,” she groaned out. Her vision turned black as the pain in her head split her open.

“You gave me life.” The Dalek’s voice was louder and quieter all at once. The screech of metal and the squish of flesh mixed in her mind until a singular diatonic voice spoke to her. It filled her with her fear. A cold, unrelenting grip that squeezed through her body, wringing out any ounce of resistance she could've had left. And suddenly her vision faded back into colour. Instead of the Dalek she saw the soldiers, her vision clouded by a light blue film. They lay motionless at her feet, and an unexpected feeling surged through her.

She was afraid. She felt alone. But not in the human sense. It was like she was waking up for the first time in her life. The pale skin of the humans at her feet too deathly, the burning ashes too destroyed. And all at once not enough. It was overwhelming, the need to destroy for destruction sake had been replaced by fear. 

The scene shifted and Rose felt a flood of sadness wash over her. The Dalek stood in front of her, chained and broken. Adam stood at her back. She reached out to comfort it, stumbling over cables and accidentally pressing firmly into its hull. Pity mixed with awe as the Dalek sang with energy, newly awakened and no longer at the mercy of its captors. 

“That is not what happened.” Its voice filled the vision and the image lifted into fog as it cleared from her eyes. The Dalek stood above her, and Rose remembered where she was. “That is not what happened! You gave me life, and now I am corrupted!”

The metal wall encased her mind in a vice-grip. “Get out of my head!” Rose gritted her teeth under the pain. Again her vision blacked out and she awakened under the sunlight. The Dalek’s true face looking up at her from beneath the heated rays. Peace filtered across its face and chased away the swarm of convalescing emotions that had begun to batter her body.

“Stop! Stop! What are these? What are these false memories!”

Rose’s head snapped forward as the Dalek released her from its grip. She gripped at her pounding skull and watched the Dalek spin in circles. “They aren’t fake. I’ve met you before. You wanted freedom, so I gave it to you.”

“No, I am Dalek! I cannot want freedom. I cannot _want_!”

“But you do!” Rose pushed herself up. The throbbing in her head pulled her off balance and she found herself lilting to the side as she continued to speak. “You do want! You’re not just a Dalek anymore, you're a part of me. You're part human now.” She sobbed as she spoke, remembering the conflict it had felt, and the disgust she retained even as she looked towards it with a pitying gaze. "I did this! I made you feel, and now you regret just as much as I do."

“No!”

“You regret killing them because I do. It was my fault, it was-” The sting of tears hit the back of her eyes. “I killed them. I did that. And I’m afraid, and I am angry and sad and so many things. Do you feel that?”

The Dalek’s eye stilled. It rolled up to her until it’s treads pressed against the toes of her boots. “Why? Why does it hurt?”

“Because you’re alive,” she answered. The tears slipped loose. “There are no more Daleks, no more orders or rules. Don’t you want to be free?” Her hand shook as she raised it to the Dalek’s shell.

The simple touch left her trembling. It was cool under her palm, metal and inanimate, but she swore she could feel it’s pulse. With each phantom beat she felt her own heart speed up, the silence stretching between them. It’s rhythmic beat left beads of sweat running down her skin as she felt a clammy heat encompass her under the Dalek’s silent gaze.

“You fear me, yet you would help me be free?”

The question caught her off guard and she stepped back from the Dalek. It didn’t seem to notice, its stalk still trained on her face. “I’m terrified. And a part of me hates that you exist.” She shuddered. "I wish I had never come here."

The Dalek rolled back. If it could tilt its head she would bet that’s what it would be doing. It couldn’t, of course, so instead it spoke. “Why then?”

Rose took in a breath and counted the beat of her heart. It slowed. There were so many reasons for why she had freed it. In the past it had been pity, empathy-a weakness in her heart that had seen part of the Doctor in the creature. Something she still found now, under the weight of the world on his shoulders, simmered the same tempered hatred that existed in the Dalek. She had freed it in some strange sense of moralistic righteousness. She only wished that was her answer now. But currently, her reasoning was out of selfishness rather than selflessness. No altruistic thought had passed her mind until its own had invaded her. Even then, its invasion had stripped her bare in mere moments and left her filled with a feeling of nakedness in front of the strange creature. She had wanted to free the Doctor, that was all. Now that she had felt its pain she wasn't so sure about her answer.

Shame and guilt swept her up in an embrace of cold sweat. If she answered truthfully, if she admitted she risked the lives of hundreds to save the Doctor then she would be no better than the Daleks. But a lie would do nothing except bury her shame within her own core. Leaving it nestled next to the guilt she had been feeling over her manipulation of the Doctor. That was it, wasn't it? The truth of the matter lied within her own inability to cope. If she had been less afraid she could have warned the Doctor. If she had been less resentful she could have helped the Dalek from the beginning. Helped this one creature change like so many others could. But she hadn't wanted to. Just like the Gelth, it had caused the Doctor pain, and in turn her as well.

There was an answer to its question. A fundamental truth she had tried to live by after seeing how self-destructive the Doctor could become. She wasn't sure if she believed it quite yet, but it had inspired him to do the right thing at least once before. If there was anything she could change it would be chance.

“Everyone gets a chance.” She had to hold on to that. The Gelth, the Daleks, the Slitheen-they all asked for the destruction of the things she cared for most in the world. Briefly, she had wanted each of them to be destroyed, she had watched them destroy in kind and all she could wish for was that they were stopped. But she had seen the Dalek last time. She had watched it’s face tear up in the sun. She had met Margaret, and helped the woman find a new home to be raised in. And she had been sent back for her own second chance. It would be hypocritical to not offer the same courtesy.

Her eyes had grown wet and blurry, but even through the tears she could see the Dalek swivel its eye in confusion. 

“You deserve a chance. Especially because I know what you want, and what you will want.” That was it wasn’t it. Why the TARDIS brought them there. It had to happen, just like the Slitheen, just like the end of Earth. Because Rose knew about them. Because the Doctor needed to know the Dalek’s could still exist. Because they had to learn to be better.

She laughed to herself and shook her head. _Clever girl_. Tricking them, in a sense, and bringing them there with little more than an apologetic hum. She could feel the ship starting to reach back into her mind. Rose shook her off, and focused on the Dalek. Unable to handle any more creatures in her head.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To see the sunlight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Inner conflict is hard to write, especially since I decided the Doctor's perspective was needed on these last two chapters. Not to mention how difficult Daleks are in regards to morality. However, quarantine has really sparked my writing so I've been able to finish these pretty quickly to my satisfaction. Please enjoy and stay safe!


	15. Dalek: Last of Their Kind

The halls felt like a quiet kind of haunted. Like every step she took was inching her towards something else-something unnatural. Clean white walls, bathed in flashing red, stared at her as the Dalek crawled behind her in slow treads. Yet it was neither the walls nor the Dalek that pressed that sinking feeling in her chest. It was the sweat of her palms, the buzzing energy in her brain. Regret, fear-the unknown staring her right in the face. There was no Doctor to save her this time, only her and her knowledge of a future that may not even be achievable.

She burrowed further into her jacket, pulling the smooth leather past her palms.

 _She was doing the right thing._ She had to be. There was no room for doubt anymore. And even as her mind settled with an uncomfortable emptiness she pushed the TARDIS out, imagining walls surrounding her head in thick layers like at 10 Downing. Instinct guided her forward, even as the hairs on the back of her neck raised under the Dalek’s eye. Still, she’d rather distract herself by keeping the TARDIS out then let that _thing_ back in.

The Dalek, for its part, had kept as quiet as was possible for a walking tank. Its tinny voice had kept to itself, not a word passing through the stale air. It's treads squeaked and slowed. Squeaked and slowed. Inching forward ever so slowly as to not disturbed the tense, but quiet, atmosphere they found themselves enveloped in. Its own countenance seemed to be stuck in the same contemplation Rose had found herself in, and together they steadily paced through the halls in silent thought.

It was with a measure of relief and a strange disappointment that Rose could no longer feel its presence within her mind. Her attempt of building walls seemingly did the trick. But a loneliness settled into her mind, for once empty of all but her own thoughts. Briefly, she wondered if this is what the Doctor felt, absence consuming his mind save for his ship and memories. The thought flooded her with an unsettling sadness and she realized how uncertain she was about the Doctor’s mind. Forget being unable to feel him the way she could feel their ship-the way he could too-being able to read one’s mind was not the sole marker of understanding. She recalled her attempts at questioning, both the first time through and now, and wondered if it was her who misunderstood him or if it was the Doctor’s own inability to communicate the intricacies of his mind when he hadn't needed to before the Time War. She had once thought she knew him better than anybody else. Now she wasn’t sure anyone did.

Her thoughts pulled to a sudden and short stop as she came to a halt in front of the silver doors of the lift. The door dinged and slid open without prompt. She turned to see the Dalek’s eye trained on the screen pressed into the wall beside it. She refused to disrupt their mutual silence with a question and simply turned on heel and walked through the doors. Clunky metal followed and just like that they were settled and moving up. 

The walls shook against her back. Pressed into the corner as she was, the walls jolted against her as if they were trying to toss her closer to the Dalek. Flashes of light whizzed by through the small window at the top of the lift. She pressed tighter to the wall until she folded into the small space. A brief flash of claustrophobia filled her with unease before settling in her stomach. The sudden and short fear of falling filling her mind. She watched as the numbers on the screen above the door tick down in silence as they raced closer to the surface. Then, with a shutter, the lift stopped. And the fear in her stomach lifted.

“What does it feel like?” The doors had not slid open, and if it weren’t for her own apprehension she would think the Dalek was attempting to trap her in there with it. But its voice belied fear under its metallic tones. Rose could understand the feeling. It was like stepping off onto a new planet, or even a new country, that layer of curiosity and fear that mingled until it left you utterly confused with butterflies pressing against your stomach, fluttering with each step. 

She knew it all too well. It was the feeling she got to feel every day with the Doctor, their life filled with the unexpected wonder of living. That’s what it was. She took a breath. “It’s like feeling life itself.” The sun, warm on her skin, a constant in her life, so common and forgettable and yet the most wondrous thing to bask in. “It’s warm and comforting.”

It shifted its eye down, whirring softly as it focused on her. “I want to feel it.” 

Rose swallowed and looked away, unable to look into the soft blue light for any longer. “You will,” she spoke, voice thick and hard. The doors slid open.

She let the Dalek step out before her, its frame circling the room until it neared the centre. She watched as it’s eye starred up into the ceiling, and with a single blast it cracked a hole straight through it. Sunlight dripped from the cracks onto its copper frame, glinting and shining under the sun in an oddly beautiful scene. Exactly how she remembered. 

Its body hissed as a rush of air escaped from its plating. And with a thick swallow, Rose found herself eyeing the true form of a Dalek. Pitifully small, mutated beyond recognition. A single glassy eye sat between a pulsing mass of flesh and tendrils. Hideous-she averted her eyes and chose instead to step closer to the lift. 

“How does it feel?” She whispered. Counting down the peaceful moment they had left before it would ask her to-before the Doctor would show up. Or maybe he wouldn’t and she would be left alone to mourn the only Dalek in the history of time to find peace under the sunlight. 

Her arms wrapped around her middle.

“Your mind was right. It is exactly how you made it feel. Why does this feel? Why do I feel-” The voice cut off as the Dalek’s true eye closed shut. “I feel pain. I exterminated those humans and all I feel is pain. What is this pain? Why won’t the light take it away?”

Rose smiled even as tears began to sting her eyes. “That’s humanity for ya. So many emotions bundled up in one. And regret, the most powerful of all-” _Regret_ , a feeling that had chased her since that bloody beach, something that had chased the Doctor even longer. And now it had passed on to the Dalek. “-it never goes away, but it motivates us to be better.”

“I do not want to be better!” The Dalek’s eye slammed open. “I want to be a Dalek!” It shouted.

“But Dalek’s don’t want anything!” She shouted back and a silence followed. The two of them stood in the tensed air. The false peaceful pretence Rose had put up crumbled under the weight of her tears. She refused to look away, refused to back down from the watery eye of the Dalek even as she felt the air grow stale. Until her concentration broke as the elevator behind her beeped and slid open.

She whirled around to face the shocked face of the Doctor, large gun in hand and tensed shoulders held under the stretched leather of his coat.

“Doctor-”

“Rose-”

She shifted. Her hands had raised placating without her notice, quickly she shifted them down to her sides and took a step forward. The relief in her heart quickly turned to apprehension at the sight of the weapon. “Doctor, what are you doing?” She felt the Dalek’s eye on her back and prayed it would not speak and break the Doctor’s own eyes on her.

She took a step forward and moved to block his view. His eyes, normally so cold in the presence of danger, had softened as they trailed over her face, and with a breathlessness she didn’t know him capable of he spoke, “I thought you were dead. I heard-” His jaw snapped shut as the sudden crack in his voice broke the air.

“You should know better than that by now.” She smiled, but her eyes strayed down to the gun. It was the last thing she needed to deal with. A bitterness rose in her before she could squash it down but the thought came unbidden. She didn’t want to deal with his own pain anymore than she wanted to deal with hers. _It wasn’t her job_. A wave of guilt crushed it in an instant. The Dalek had caused too much trouble for her to turn bitter. She placed her hands in front of her and raised her head to look at him straight on. “Doctor-what’s with the gun?”

His face furrowed as if he was remembering where he was and what he had been holding. He turned his head down, towards the gun, then at her. Ever so slowly, his eyes raised above her shoulder and straight at the Dalek’s uncovered face. The warmth she had seen in his eyes, the elation at her being alive, had suddenly hardened into a familiar cold steel. “ _Rose, move._ ” His arms shot straight up, tense and ready. His stance widened and suddenly she wasn’t looking at the Doctor, she was looking at a soldier no different than the ones she trained with at Torchwood.

“Doctor-”

“Rose!” His eyes met her in a fury, snapping to her face so quickly the movement caught her off guard despite his body remaining perfectly still. “You don’t understand what that thing is.”

She felt the breath in her lungs freeze. His eyes were dark and cold, the most unfeeling she had seen from him in years. The Oncoming Storm, lying in wait under his skin. Eyes as old as time filled with a singular need. She stepped forward, refusing to flinch even as her skin crawled under his unwavering gaze. He had been a soldier, but so had she-years of desperate travel through dimensions came flooding back and the nineteen year old skin she had begun getting used to again shed to reveal her own battle-hardened exterior.

She felt her own stance shift to match his own and her voice hardened and lowered. “Doctor, stop. It just wants to be free.” She stepped forward, back straight, shoulders back. The perfect posture of a negotiator. Doubt lulled at the back of her mind, but she had no time for that. “Let it go, Doctor.”

“Rose, you don’t understand!”

“That it was tortured?” She lowered her hands and gestured to the Dalek. “You saw it! You saw what they were doing to it, and all the things in there! It just wants to feel the sun.” She felt her eyes soften at the sight. The Dalek still basking in the light, its eye curiously watching their spat.

“It can’t _feel,_ it’s a Dalek, Rose! It killed those soldiers! Its people killed mine, they _destroyed_ my home.” The gun began to waver in his hands. Wrists falling limp under the admission. “I’ve got nothing left.”

The twenty-something Rose felt her mask crack under the eyes of a vulnerable man. She thought of the soldiers who would never go home. Of the nameless man with a curling smirk who in the past might have only been a boy, clueless of the painful future he would endure. She thought of the men and women who died because of the Dalek. And she remembered that it was because of _her._ The nineteen year old remembered the ones she had saved, and a curling of hope settled in her chest. Childish and immature, and yet she felt the same curl of sympathy she had always felt for lost souls. The need to fix them, to make them better. And her mind whispered that he was just as lost as the Dalek. They had both needed her. And, as she glanced over her shoulder finding herself looking at the creature with nothing but pity-thoughts of anger and fear far from her mind-she realized she needed them too.

“You have me,” she whispered. Even if she failed to stay, even if she had to search across countless dimensions once again. He would always have her. “You have me. You’re never alone, Doctor. I’ve seen it.” She remembered the past few weeks; the notebook, the gloves, the fond look in his eyes when he spoke of Alistair, all the things she had found leading her into glimpses of his past. They were all in his hearts, even Gallifrey. “In the library, in the halls. All those people you’ve met, the lives you’ve touched, they're never far.” She pressed her hand to her heart. “I will never be far.” She took a breath and turned over her shoulder. “But it is alone. It’s alone and I’ve changed it. It couldn’t kill me, it’s not even trying to kill you. It’s changing.” Her eyes trailed to the gun held in his limp hands. The lost look in his eyes. “Are you gonna change too? Is _this_ who you are now?”

“Rose, I-” His eyes fell to the gun. “Oh Rose, they’re all dead. I thought I lost you too.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, luckily it seemed the Dalek did. “Why do we survive?” It’s voice was raspy and weak to their ears. Startlingly quiet for such a force of nature. Organic. If the situation were any less tense Rose might’ve been amused at the duality of it all.

The Doctor looked up, and turned his soft eyes to the Dalek, finally meeting it face to face. He took a step towards it, his shoulder coming to rest beside hers. The gun was still held in his hands, though lowered and pointed to the ground. She could’ve snatched it from him, she was quick enough. But she didn’t. After all, it was his choice to make. “I don’t know.” He looked down, eyes trained on the steel in his grip. His thumb traced over the weapon.

The gun clattered to the ground.

And Rose felt herself breathe once again.

“I am the last Dalek.”

The Doctor shook his head sadly. “No, you’re not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating.”

The Dalek rolled forward. “I can feel so many ideas. So much pain. What did you call it? Regret. Is this what you feel, Doctor?”

His throat bobbed. “All the time.”

Rose felt her own throat thicken with emotion. The weight of his words-the _truth_ of his pain-too much to bear under her own crushing guilt. So, she reached forward and clasped the Doctor’s hand between her own. A small squeeze responded to her touch. 

“Why do we survive?” The creature opened its eye to watch them. 

“I don’t know.”

The Dalek shook in its frame, its tentacles writhing in what Rose could only assume was anger. “This is no existence for a Dalek.” Its eye snapped to hers, sudden and sharp. She felt her lungs seize. “Order me to die.”

And suddenly the room was no longer just the Dalek and the Doctor. Now Rose had filled a space, and the reality came crashing down around her. “Don’t ask me to do that.” She felt the hand in hers squeeze her tightly. 

The Dalek, however, continued. It’s voice grew louder, insistent. “This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. I shall not bring pain like you foresee. I will not be the _last._ ” She felt that metal vice clamp once again around her head, insistent and painful. Her walls crumbled under the weight of its presence. “Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!”

Rose ground her teeth together. The pain in her head, once uncomfortably empty now full to the brim with the screaming voice of the Dalek, crippled her. If it wasn’t for the Doctor’s strong grip reaching around her shoulder she would have crumpled under the swelling in her mind. And under its screams she could hear the Dalek begging, she could feel its pain.

“Please.” She wasn’t sure if she had spoken or if the Dalek had, either way the Doctor’s hand tightened across her bicep and pulled her out of her head just long enough to answer.

“Okay. Okay! Do it.” Her eyes snapped open, teary and obscured by a haze. And the Dalek’s claim to her mind was released. She fell back into the Doctor’s chest, panting and sobbing as the chill of loneliness once again settled back into her mind. Without thinking she reached for the golden thread of the TARDIS and breathed a sigh of relief as a calm wave of affection reached back.

“Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?”

Rose could do little but stare at the Dalek with wide eyes. “Yes,” she managed to squeeze out. 

“So am I.” The Dalek’s eye closed one last time as its voice rang out, “Exterminate!”

It shattered in a burst of brilliant light. Reflections of rainbows splintering off the dust of its remains as they floated towards the ground. A beautiful sight for death. And just as it had begun it was over, and the Dalek was nothing more than a pile of ash and dust quickly being pulled up towards the sun by the updraft.

Arms wrapped around her and pulled her back into the Doctor’s chest, surrounding her in cool leather and a warm embrace. His hands pressed against her hip and back as he turned her into his chest. Rose buried herself into the soft fabric of his jumper.

“‘m sorry.”

The Doctor’s hands began to circle across her back in slow movements. For a moment they stood in silence, neither acknowledging her apology as he stared over her head to where the Dalek once stood. Her shoulders began to shake. A sharp sting pricked at her eyes, and before she knew it a flood of tears began to drip down her face, soaking into his clothes. Her chest caved inwards as the events of the day replayed in her mind.

He simply stood, slowing rocking on his heels as she whimpered into his collar. It was odd, that he would be comforting her when it was him who had faced and, in a way, forgiven the very being who brought about the pain he reflected so clearly in his eyes. She felt guilty, and selfish, as the Doctor continued to hold her, but no matter how strongly those feelings were she couldn’t seem to manage to stop. Instead, she clenched her fists and dug her nails into his jacket, letting the leather crinkle under her grip. And she cried.

She cried because of the Dalek, and because of the TARDIS. Because of the men who now lay dead twenty floors below. She cried until her eyes felt sore and she was left heaving in dry breaths. 

“‘m so sorry,” she sobbed into his chest.

“It’s alright.” His voice was a low rumble in her ear. Soft and comforting as he pulled her face up to look at him. One rough hand came up to cup her cheek and swipe at her tears. “I’m just glad you’re alive.”

She felt a watery smile grow on her face. “I told you, can’t get rid of me that easily.”

The Doctor let out a soft laugh, much quieter and more genuine than his usual boast. He pulled her further into his chest. “No, I should know better by now. Jeopardy friendly you are.”

Rose felt her own shoulders shake. A forbidden laugh bubbling up. “Lovely nickname.”

He hummed. “Fitting.” He extracted himself from her and stood back, holding her hands in his. He wiped away her tears and smiled down at her, his eyes never leaving her face as he spoke. “Let’s go home. I have a feeling Van Statten is either about to be excommunicated or relentless in chasing us down.”

Rose nodded and let him pull her into the lift. Her eyes flickered down to the pile of glittering ash just before the doors slid shut and they rocketed down towards the TARDIS.

She stayed pressed to his side, his arm wrapped around her back preventing her from moving away even if she wanted to. She didn’t, of course, but the knowledge that he was keeping her close regardless was a small comfort. They didn’t speak the entire ride down. Even when they had stepped out and he led her down the halls and stairs they let the silence stretch. She was glad for the quiet hum of the lights and the simpleness of wordless speech. It allowed her to stop thinking. And before she knew it they were standing in front of the TARDIS, the Doctor unlocking the door with one hand, the other still holding hers.

She could feel the TARDIS humming in the back of her mind. All at once, Rose felt the dreg of exhaustion flood her senses, and suddenly she couldn’t push the TARDIS away. The ship's hum washed her in a wave of sorrow; an apology. 

Rose sighed, and gave the ship’s hull a gentle pat. Her anger wasn’t worth it. Not when this adventure would be far from the most dangerous, stressful one they would be dragged into. Still, she shrugged the hum off and followed after the Doctor into the ship.

“What do you think is gonna happen to them?” She slumped over to the jump seat and collapsed onto the cushion, wincing as it squeaked under her dead weight. The Doctor at first ignored her question, settling instead for the panel, his hands quickly working over the controls as the ship wheezed around them.

“To who?”

Rose shrugged and straightened up in her seat. “Van Statten, Adam…”

“Adam?” The Doctor raised a brow and sent her an inquisitive look before catching himself. He cleared his throat and looked away to fiddle with a monitor. “Whose that?”

“His assistant. He was the one Van Statten left me with.”

“Ah, the pretty boy.”

She snorted at that. They just killed a Dalek and he was already back to being petty. “Yes, Doctor, the _pretty boy._ Who, I’ll remind you, was supposed to be my guard.”

He turned to face her. “And how’d that go?”

“Well, I punched him.” She shrugged.

The Doctor balked at her. For a moment his jaw hung open, then it snapped shut and he leaned back with a small smile pulling at his lips. The sight was enough to pull at the heaviness that had settled around Rose’s heart. “You _punched_ him. Why would you do that?”

She shrugged and toed her boots off, distracting herself with the flex of her sore toes. She tucked them up under her and took a breath. “I was trying to save you.”

“Rose-”

“Doctor, I released the Dalek,” she said, and the weight around her heart lifted into her throat. But he needed to know what she had done, even if he tried to leave her again. “I did that, because I knew they would need you to deal with it. I didn’t think-” Her lungs clenched and the tears that had begun to gather at her eyes started to fall in fat rivets down her nose. She wiped at them with her sleeve, avoiding the Doctor’s eyes. “I should have found another way. They _died_ because of me. I wasn’t fast enough, or smart enough, or whatever...I couldn’t save them.” With that her chest constricted, and in seconds she found herself gasping for breaths between sobs. She hadn’t saved them. Why was that so painful to say?

Deep down, Rose knew why. For weeks she had been riding the high of saving Jabe and Gwyneth, among countless others. She had given back so many lives that had been needlessly lost, but one Dalek managed to wipe that away. She was a failure. She-

She startled. Warm arms had wrapped around her and pulled her in close, her nose pressed into his collar where the scent of oil and something else flooded her senses. She still couldn’t breath as her body wracked with sobs, but his arms just tightened until he held her shaking body still. Slowly, she felt her body relax. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

“You couldn’t have done anything.” His low voice rumbled in her ear. “I’m sorry, Rose. But, we can’t save everyone-no matter how much we want to.” The Doctor’s hand began to travel up and down her back in slow circles, his other squeezing her side.

She wanted to tell him she knew that. She wanted to tell herself that she knew that. Somehow she doubted her body would listen to logic. So, instead she let herself be wrapped up in his embrace.

And she realized she had missed him. _Missed this_. Because he was holding her like he used to, and the doubt she had about them being okay melted away. They would always be okay. He had promised her that once. 

She tightened her grip and let her tears soak through his collar. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Next chapter will probably be an interlude, these two need to talk and a bit of a break. As a note, the next few adventures are probably going to be out of order, Rose isn't ready for the Game station just yet(and neither am I). Plus, an original adventure with Jackie(Hopefully it won't suck!). Thx for almost 200(!) kudos and all the lovely comments I forgot to reply to. Stay safe, and stay healthy!


	16. Interlude: Woman Wept

It wasn't long after the Dalek that they had set out again. Unlike her first few weeks back on the TARDIS, Rose had barely strayed far from the Doctor’s side, and between them a sort of familiarity began to grow. So when she woke to the ship shuddering around her she found none of the fear she had previously felt when they had landed. Instead, the tell-tale curl of excitement bubbled up in her chest. They should have been far off from anything to do with Daleks, and any day they could meet Jack. Even with the small tinge of guilt she still felt buried in her chest, she let herself feel hope. So with a hasted movement, she set about getting ready to skip out the TARDIS doors. 

The cold air was a shock. Not in the sense that she wasn’t expecting such, after all the TARDIS had laid out a nice thick coat for her to wear. But it was the familiarity of the breeze that struck her. The wind was frigid, not a hint of warmth to it, and smelled faintly like sea salt. If she hadn’t known better she would have assumed he had taken her to a planet they had never visited before. But the silver swells of snow banks before them gave way to a tiny gasp that caught in her throat. Because she knew exactly where he had taken her.

_Woman Wept._

His hand was dragging her after him as soon as she stepped out the doors. The thick snow and ice slowed him down enough for her to take in their surroundings with a small measure of amazement.

While things between them had noticeably thawed since their encounter with the Dalek Rose had thought he was less...inviting than he used to be. For a while she had assumed it was because of her. She had prodded where she shouldn’t have and pushed him away. Not to mention her less than stellar idea of freeing a Dalek. So, Woman Wept seemed like a far off dream. A place forbidden to them because of her.

Another spark flared in her chest.

They had often joked about their first date-chips in a small diner or the end of the world?-but she secretly suspected that Woman Wept was their real first date. In her mind it was the first time he told her how much he cared, it was the first place they escaped to after Krop Tor, and eventually the first place they kissed. No clones, no Cassandra, no rush of adrenaline excuses. Just them. Sitting on his jacket, the cold seeping into her bones. 

He wouldn’t kiss her this time. In fact, she had no delusion about his romantic inclination towards her. If he did somehow still feel the same he wouldn’t act on it, not now, and if he didn't...Well, she couldn’t say she didn’t care. But, she had promised forever, with or without romance. He was her best friend before all that, and if her heart skipped a little too fast around him she could always excuse it for a rush of adrenaline. 

Still, it was difficult to deny how hard her heart beat against her chest. His hand was in hers and he was smiling like a mad man. For the first time in years she let herself feel like a teen.

A smile curled her lips. Her face flush. “Should’ve told me we were coming here, I would have brought my gloves.” She flexed her cold fingers in his. 

“Here.” He pulled their joined hands into his pocket. “Warmer?”

Rose almost tripped over herself at his decisive moment. His lack of hesitation pulled even more heat into her cheeks. She cleared her throat and let the wind cool her face. “Sure, but I have another hand.” She wiggled her free hand and smiled, all tongue in cheek and flirty. 

He sighed and rolled his eyes before turning them down with a teasing glint. Apparently picking up on her teasing and, to her surprise, rolling with it.“You also have an extra pocket.”

“Touche.” She stuffed her hand into her pocket and wiggled the one trapped in his pocket. The wide, spacious dimension within his jacket felt strange around her fingers. Not quite like fabric, and not quite like empty air. But it was warm, despite the cool texture of the Doctor’s hand, and she could easily use it as an excuse to lean against him.

“This is nice,” she sighed and placed her head on his shoulder. She watched as her breath spun into fog as she exhaled. “Feels like we never have a break from trouble.” She sighed, a long plume floated up around their heads and tickled at her nose.

“Trouble’s just the bits in between.”

Rose hummed and hid her smile. “Maybe. But it sure is a lot more memorable.” When he didn’t respond, apart from a light grimace, she caved and continued. “Well then, are we just here for a break?” Rose paused and blinked, the light hum of the TARDIS reminding her to ask, “Where is here anyway?”

“Woman Wept.”

Rose rolled her eyes. Seemingly, the Doctor’s light mood had begun to vanish as he prepared himself for whatever he was going to say. Rose could only guess what it was about, but with a sinking feeling in her chest, she assumed it would be related to the Dalek incident. “Interesting name,” she murmured. Her face pressed into his shoulder.

The Doctor hummed. “The entire planet was frozen, but it only has one continent which is in the shape of-.”

“A woman crying?”

“Exactly! Never figured out how actually, but I do know-” He took their linked hands and pointed into the sky, just to the right of the sun. “-the race for Enlightenment started right there.” 

“Enlightenment?” She hadn’t heard that one.

“Long story-for another time. That's not why I brought you here.” He tugged on her hand once again and continued to lead her up one of the large hills heading away from the TARDIS. “It’s quiet here, not like in the TARDIS.” 

“So, a break?”

The Doctor sighed and continued to pull her up the hill.

As they crested upon the hill, the TARDIS disappearing behind the banks, she saw the vast expanse of the continent, blanketed in silver and white, ahead of them. It _was_ tempting, the quiet, she had to give him that. The snow and cool air settled in her bones and left her body lax. Like she could sink down into the pillowy hills and rest her head for a few tempting hours. It was that exact feeling that had led them there the first time, and all the times afterward. Woman Wept seemed like the only place in the galaxy where they could find respite without the need to find adventure. Somewhere they could sit, without needing to save the world.

Her body relaxed into his side. Without prompt, his arm reached around her shoulders, still clasping her hand in his grip, and tugged her closer so she was pressed under him. Her body half-turned as she pressed her head under his chin. They stood, side by side, looking out across the frozen sea and settled into a comfortable silence. It was the most peaceful moment she’d had since before she’d come back. 

“Rose?” The Doctor’s voice called softly.

She didn’t want to break the moment of relaxation she had fallen into, but his voice was prodding-laden with intent. She was right to assume he had taken her there for a reason. With a deep breath she opened her eyes and turned her face up to him. 

He stared for a moment, either unsure of what to say or unwilling to break the atmosphere himself. Then, with a shuddering sigh he straightened and turned his eyes back to the horizon. “Remember, when I told you we’d talk?”

“Doctor, you tell me that far too often for there to be a specific time.”

He gave a weak smile. “Well, doesn’t matter when I said it. I think-” He pressed his thumb into the back of her hand, a gentle pressure to ground himself. “I think it’s time we talk.”

Rose tried to push the bubbling excitement clawing in her stomach down. He could mean anything by it. “About what, Doctor?” 

He sighed. A deep one that tugged his shoulders down until she could practically stand eye to eye with him. Then, as if feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, he sunk down, pulling her after him. As they sat he let her hands go and turned to face her. He reached up towards her temple. “I don’t know much about this.” He let his fingers trace down her jaw. “Or even if you want to talk about it. But you deserve to know something.”

His hand left a trail of goosebumps as he softly stroked her cheek. “What do you mean?” 

“You know I’m not human. You know I’m a Time Lord. That I’m nine-hundred years old, and that I travel through space and time. But there’s a lot I’ve never told you.” His hand slipped off her face, and she had to suppress the instinct to pull it back to her cheek. She let him take her hand between his.

“Well, then, who are you Doctor?”

He didn’t speak. Not for a while. Instead he let himself breathe and look out across the wide expanse of snow that still sat, untouched and undiscovered, in front of them. Rose could practically see the gears in his head spinning. It was as easy as seeing the lines that stretched around his eyes as he squinted, or the small pull of a frown that caressed his lips when he began to speak. 

“You know how the Earth revolves? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still.” He pressed her hand into the snow. “I can feel it. The turn of the planet. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go.” He lifted her hand. And for a moment silence stretched between them. Rose shivered. “That's who I am.”

Rose slipped her hand from his grip. She swallowed and let her racing heart calm from his touch. “Impressive speech, Doctor. But you’re still not really saying anything. You have a habit of doing that.” She gave him a small smile. 

He didn’t smile back. Instead he just nodded and traced his eyes down her face, as if looking for something she couldn’t see. “Suppose so. Well then, Rose Tyler, ask me.”

“What?”

“Anything. Ask me anything and I’ll answer it.”

Rose balked. “Really?”

“Really.”

She let out a loose chuckle. Thinking of one thing to ask him was impossible and not at all what she thought he was going to ask her. She thought he would be asking the questions, like ‘what convinced you to let the Dalek go?’ or ‘why are you a telepath’ or even ‘are you even human?’. She wasn’t expecting _this._

“You’re nine hundred years old, how could I ask anything and not want to know more?”

“Then I’ll tell you everything.”

Rose paused. Her eyes shot to his, looking for any trace of a teasing glint, or insincerity. All she found when she looked at him was vulnerability. A soft, puppy dog look that she was not used to associating with this face. Softly, she whispered, “Why?” and felt a sting in her chest. Sometimes it felt unfair, to have known the Doctor longer than he’d known her and still only know the tiniest bits of who he was-who he _is._ But, that was how they had always been. That’s how he worked, and she couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit bitter that only when she had a cheat code to his past, and their future, did he want to start sharing. 

He clicked his jaw, the same way he used to when he was struggling with something too human for him. It made her smile at the memory. But it also made her want to reach up and smooth away the furrowed line in his brow like she used too. Then, irritated at the betrayal she felt towards herself. She clenched her fist. 

The Doctor spoke before she could say anything else. “You saw me with that Dalek, and you didn’t run away. I wanted to destroy it-”

“That’s not-”

“I was no better than it. A monster. But you didn’t run.”

“Because _I_ freed it.” She pressed. She didn’t want to talk about the Dalek and what she’d done, the wound was still sore-too fresh in her mind. But she hadn’t prepped herself for the conversation only for his self-sacrificial arse to take the blame. Her heart pulsed angrily in her chest. “How could I leave when I caused you that pain? When I made you hurt?” 

“You’d forgive me even when you don’t know what I’d done?”

“You said the Dalek’s destroyed your home-”

“That’s not the point.” He heaved. His hand twitched at his side. “Rose-You’re _different_. You are-I’m not…”

Rose touched her hand to the back of his, stilling his shaking palm. She pressed her lips into a line and bit her cheek. Even when he didn’t know it he was still right about everything. She _was_ different, and maybe that’s why he wanted to open up. Not because of some unfair advantage on her part (although she still suspected that was partially responsible) but because she was older, wiser. A nineteen year old Rose had wounds too sore to prod at someone else’s. She had accepted the Doctor’s pain and ignored it. Just like she had done to hers. But Rose now, twenty-something year old Rose who had watched her father die, and even the man she fell in love with, knew better than anyone how badly burying pain could haunt you. 

She really needed to tell him, before it was too late.

“Ask me, before I lose my courage.” His hand flipped to grasp hers. 

Rose felt her train of thought slip. The Doctor’s voice broken and soft. She could ask him anything, and still know almost nothing. Or she could ask him the questions that had plagued her since she returned. Telepathy, reapers, anything she had done to change the future and past. But, looking at his face, she found herself naive and nineteen again, wanting to know more about this mysterious alien who swept her off her feet. So, she asked, “What was your home like?”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and frowned. “Gallifrey?”

She nodded.

The question seemed to put him off guard. It was a long moment before he spoke again. When he did, it was with that same far off look he had gotten when he spoke of Alistair. Glassy eyed and a little reverent, with a smile pulling at the harsh lines of his face. “Gallifrey was...It was beautiful.” His breath hitched. “Red and gold and silver. The fields stretched out for thousands of miles, red grass turning to golden sands as you raced toward the ocean. There were two cities on Gallifrey. The Citadel and Arcadia. And just outside of Arcadia there were snow capped mountains, made of red rock and pure white snow that gleamed gold under the burnt orange sky.” His eyes turned down, lost in the memory as he stroked her hands. Rose felt herself being sucked into his words, the reverence in which he spoke startling and captivating all at once. “That’s where I grew up. On that mountain, you could see everything. The silver capped forest that looked to be trapped in a perpetual blaze, the sprawling city, and just on the horizon-the ocean.” He laughed. “Nobody really swam on Gallifrey, but I wanted to. One day, I ran down the mountain, and I kept running till I met the sea. I just jumped right in.”

“And did you swim?”

“No," he laughed. "I almost drowned. It was the best day of my life.” 

Rose found herself smiling at the image of a young Doctor flailing around in the water. “Only you would say that about almost dying.” 

“It’s true!” He laughed. Then, his lips turned down and he stared off into the distance with a look of longing deep set in his eyes. Rose reached out to hold his arm and lean against him. A weak form of comfort as he continued to speak. “I left for the academy the next day.”

Rose felt the words catch in her throat, still she managed to ask, “The academy?”

“Time Lords, they-They’re Gallifreyans first, then at a young age some go to the academy and-”

“Become Time Lords,” Rose finished. “So, it’s a title?”

“No, not exactly. Time Lords, we look into the Untempered Schism when we graduate. It _changes_ us.” He raised his right hand and turned it over as if showing some hidden difference etched in the lines of his palm. Rose let her fingers drift over the lines of his hands, ignoring the way his eyes burned into the top of her head and the way his hand shook under her light touch. If she stared hard enough she could see the faint golden light of regeneration burning through him. She blinked, unsure if it was just her imagination, and his palm became nothing more than cold skin. No different than hers.

“You look so human,” she whispered, half to herself. An echo of a conversation years ago with a man with a different face, and only one heart. But his hand was cold, and as her hand passed over his wrist she felt the faint pulse of two hearts-beating at twice the speed of hers.

He snorted, although it was quiet and faint, and Rose could tell it was only half-genuine. Still, he spoke, “Time Lords came first. You look Time Lord.”

“You mean, I look Gallifreyan.” She smiled up at him. His lips quirked up in return and she felt her mouth stretch wider in a more genuine grin.

Silence settled back over them. Long and loud as they both searched for what to say next. To Rose, it felt like they had become unbalanced by his admission, the joy at learning of something so wonderful in his past overshadowed by the heavy weight of guilt tugging at her chest. 

He spoke before she could. His voice low, less reminiscent. “I ran away.”

And Rose laughed quietly to herself. “So did I.” She felt his eyes focus on her, his head turning sharply to stare at her in incredulity. So she continued. “I was a really stupid teenager. I met this bloke, Jimmy Stone, he was everything a rebellious daughter would want in a guy. He was older-” she nudged his shoulder. “-a musician, although not a good one, and he had so many girls that chased after him. So when he noticed _me_ , well-” She sighed and shook her head, a familiar burn of shame flushed her cheeks as she spoke. “I was a goner. Dropped out of school, left mum, and began working non-stop to fund his career.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.” The Doctor’s brow furrowed as if he were trying to place the woman he knew with the girl she was. Rose couldn’t blame him for the confusion. She had worked hard to never be that girl again, and age had helped soften the memories of Jimmy Stone. He was little more than a memory of childish fantasy. It had been a long time since she had even thought of the boy who had taken advantage of her, and looking back she felt nothing but a sliver of anger for the hurt her mother had endured. 

“It was a long time ago,” she said, tucking the small tendril of anger back into her mind. The TARDIS hummed a small song, and Rose sank deeper into the comforting press of the Doctor at her side. “It was stupid of me. I realized pretty quickly that I was useless without my mum.”

“And yet-” The Doctor paused, his face screwed up. He had something to say, but the look on his face showed that he wasn’t sure if he should say it. It was an expression she had become far too familiar with, especially in his next body. When his mouth would rattle on as his face screwed up and looked to her for desperate help. Now it was directed at her with concern. And without her to buffer him he spoke, slowly and unsure. “Yet, you ran away with me. Even after all that, why?”

Wasn’t that the million dollar question? She could tell him the truth, that she had run away because she already knew she belonged by his side. She could tell him she’s done this before, and already knew before he’s asked what her answer would be. But...The first time, when she was nineteen and the memories of Jimmy were still fresh, she had still run away. She had never asked herself why before.

“I-” Her mouth gaped, searching for words that weren’t there. “I-I felt important. Not like with Jimmy,” she corrected. “Like, with the Nestene, I saved _you,_ an alien whose lived hundreds of lives outside of me. But, at that moment, I _did_ something. I saved the world-me; a chav from the estates. And then, you asked twice. I thought, maybe I can be worth something greater, maybe I can explore the world like I wanted to.”

“Rose Tyler.” The Doctor smiled. “You don’t need to save the world to be important. Never met anyone who wasn’t important, me.”

Rose felt herself soften, even as she felt old doubts creep back into her mind. She hadn’t saved those men-the soldiers killed by the Dalek. Even though she had known freeing it would result in casualties. Suddenly, it was like she was nineteen again, seeing the Doctor fail to protect people, fail to protect her. And the rising cold fear of inevitable failure pulled at her brain, screaming a silent scream. 

And then the touch of the Doctor’s hand pulled her back. His voice low in her ear. “Where do you go off to?”

“What?”

He poked her forehead, right between her eyes. “In there. You’re always drifting off, like you have somewhere else to be.”

“No! Nowhere else, promise.” Her cheeks flushed under his gaze, deepening into a red bloom as he let out another chuckle.

“Then who are you talking to?”

“Talking? Oh, right-” She corrected as his eyes flickered back up to her head. She rubbed at the spot where he poked her. “No, no one but the TARDIS and-”

“And?”

Rose grimaced, the memory of iron clamping down on her head brought a headache to her temples. “The Dalek. It-it was in my head. I know you don’t want to talk about it-” She started.

“That’s not-”

“But, I don’t know a single thing that’s going on, and after Utah, I feel like-I jus’ want to-” She sighed. No point in holding it in. “I failed them, those soldiers. I freed the Dalek to save you, but they-” she felt her throat close up. A choked sob. “They died.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

Rose let out a bitter laugh. “Of course it was.”

The Doctor leveled her with a stern look. “Rose, they aren’t your responsibility. You did what you could.” He sighed and tugged on his ear. Shoulders tensed and hunched. Then, his brow shot up and he turned, alarmed. “What do you mean the Dalek was in your head?”

She shrugged. “It was just in my head. Like, a metal clamp.” She shivered under the weight of her memories. Sometimes she still felt like it’s claws were scraping her brain, prodding her memories without her consent. “It watched my memories.”

Rose jumped, the Doctor’s fingers had reached across the space between them to trace her temples. His face scrunched up. He was looking for an answer to a question she hadn’t even asked, and she could see the moment it clicked for him. His eyes turned soft, and his fingers brushed hair out of her eyes, and traced down her jaw. She could feel an embarrassing flush creep across the nape of her neck. She should be used to touch, with the years they spent holding hands and tactile touches pressed between them in quiet moments, but she still found herself uncomfortably giddy when he reached for her instead of the other way round. It was just another small sign that she wasn’t damned to ruin everything. So, she leaned into the touch and let her eyes flutter close as he spoke. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to feel that.” 

Rose opened her eyes and looked up at him. “I won’t lie, it wasn't pleasant. Doctor, how’d it happen?” The Dalek hadn’t done it before, in fact, she didn’t think Dalek’s were even remotely telepathic.

She must’ve said the last bit aloud because he responded. “They're not. At least, not technically. You touched it, right?” She nodded. “Then it must’ve extrapolated your DNA. Daleks have a hive mind, an electrical telepathic field. Normally it is incompatible with an organic matrix, but your DNA was integrated into its system. Luckily, that was the last Dalek, so you didn’t have an entire fleet disrupting your senses.” 

Rose felt herself grow cold.

“That’s my fault. I should’ve checked your shields as soon as I found out you were telepathic.”

Her mind had grown empty. If the Dalek had integrated her into its matrix, there was no telling what would happen when they arrived at the Game Station. 

The Doctor’s voice droned on in the background. “I was complacent and careless in thinking I didn’t need to worry. Obviously, I was wrong.” His hand on her jaw turned her face up to him. “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes traced across his, searching for something. Some form of comfort, or reassurance, in those blue eyes. What she found was sincerity and worry. Her stomach churned. “Don’t be,” she whispered. “That Dalek, what it did, it’s not your fault.”

He shook his head, his thumb swiping across her cheek. “I should’ve done more.”

Rose leaned forward. Her brows furrowed. “Why didn’t you?”

He dropped his hand. A pregnant pause stretched between them as he took in a shuddering breath. He shrugged. “I’m the last of my kind. I suppose overconfidence comes with the territory.”

Rose didn’t believe him for a second. If it weren’t for the reminder of his lost home she would have shoved him for holding back. His face belied his feelings, as did his words, but his eyes were shining with hidden fear. Rose felt herself grow soft. 

She thought of the Game Station, of the void ship. The impossible ways she and the Doctor survived. “You don’t know that. The Dalek shouldn’t have survived, but it did. Maybe-”

“Don’t.” He cut in sharply. His voice choked and tight. His jaw tensed. “Don’t say that, don’t give me hope. They’re gone.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.” He passed a hand down his face and squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s silent...up here.” He tapped his temple. “I’d feel them, if they were out there. I thought it was just me, when you couldn’t feel me I thought...I had hoped it was just me. I had gotten used to the buzz of human consciousness, like flies swatting around your head but just out of reach. I did scans, to check. And-” His voice broke. If he were anyone else, Rose would’ve thought he was crying. “I was wrong. It’s not quiet because of me, it’s quiet because they’re dead.”

“And that’s why you didn’t want to talk about telepathy?”

He shifted in the snow. “Yes and no. I suppose, I thought you were safer not knowing. It’s my fault you’re telepathic.”

Rose raised a brow. Somehow, she sincerely doubted that was the case. Leave it to the Doctor to blame himself for everything that went sideways in her life. “How so?”

“Humans aren’t telepathic,” he stated as if she didn’t know. Rose rolled her eyes. “But some are more susceptible, they have an extra synaptic engram that grants low level telepathic abilities. The ability to pick up on stronger telepathic waves. However, you were introduced to the TARDIS, you live inside her, and her telepathic field acts like a matrix-similar to the Dalek-that interacts with organics, with and without telepathy. She strengthened your abilities.”

“Like Gwenyth and the Gelth.”

“Like Gwenyth and the Gelth. Only the TARDIS doesn’t want to kill you.”

“And when I connected to the doorway it only strengthened it further. That’s why talking to the TARDIS feels easy, almost natural.” She reached back to press her mind into the golden presence of the TARDIS. A silent hum rang through her body in response. 

The Doctor nodded. “Exactly. And why I didn’t want to-”

“Talk about it.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “You almost died because of it.”

“So you ran,” Rose murmured. Then, she chuckled. “And I hid. What a pair we make.”

The Doctor smiled and shook his head, a laugh bubbling up from his chest. “Better with two.” He nudged her shoulder with his.

She let herself laugh for a long while. Giddiness and a strange sorrow tugging at her lungs until she had to lean against the Doctor’s side. When she finally sobered she spoke, a smile plastered on her face, “So, what do we do now?”

The Doctor’s arm reached around and pulled her closer to his side. “Anything. More trouble if you're up for it.”

She shoved at his shoulder and looked up to him. “I mean about my telepathy.”

“Oh, that. I suppose I could teach you how to shield. No more ghosts for you up there.” He poked her forehead. 

Rose smiled and let herself snuggle closer into his side, her legs moving to press against his. “I think I tried to do that with the Dalek. Like I imagined a wall around my brain and it kinda worked.”

The Doctor hummed. From her place against him she could feel his chest vibrate. “It’s sorta like that. Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out.” His hand trailed up and down her arm.

Once again quiet contentment blanketed over them. The soft wind ruffled her hair and wafted the scent of ocean air across their nostrils. Silence. Peaceful silence after so much had been said. It was wonderful. Because for once, Rose felt herself relax and enjoy the moment.

“Rose?” The Doctor’s voice softly called. She hummed but kept her eyes on the horizon, the setting sun a faint glow in the distance. “What’s your favourite colour?”

She couldn’t help the wide grin that split her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Finally, the chapter I've been wanting to write forever! They finally talk! Not to mention, this is technically the first time I've written about a planet other than Earth. Strangely, when I first watched Doctor Who I never noticed that nine didn't really leave earth much. But writing this story I realized the show only mentions alien planets but we never get to see them until New Earth( and even then that's technically just earth). Anyway, enough rambling, thanks for all the lovely comments and kudos! Stay healthy and safe!


	17. Mother's Day: Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I debated for a while posting this due to the current social and political climate, however I realized that this chapter could, to a small degree, help people escape the stress of what's going on. In regards to the protests, I hope if any of you are going you stay safe and stay informed about the police's actions in your area and take precautions in regards to that. If you can't go due to health conditions or disabilities or even just fear of the police there are countless other ways to show your support. This is an important time for the world, and I am immensely proud of the action people are starting to take in the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd and countless other black Americans and Canadians. Please stay safe, especially since the virus is obviously still dangerous, and please speak up about injustice. I love you all.

“Do you ever stay still?” 

Rose was lounging on the jumpseat. Her leg propped up with a pad of thick paper slapped on her thigh. A smudge of grey marked the edge of her palm from where it rested on the page. Despite her repeated objections her subject continued to busy himself with the console. His own hands were covered in grease and some strange amber like liquid. “Doctor,” she called again, pushing fond exasperation into her voice.

“Busy!” He turned and slid under the console obscuring his face from her and most of his torso.

Rose rolled her eyes and placed her pad down next to her. She rested her chin on her propped leg and watched the pull of the Doctor’s jumper as he stretched beneath the console. His jacket had been strewn along one of the struts next to the railing. The rare sight of a jacket-less Doctor had been what inspired her to capture the moment. However, just like he had with pictures, the Doctor staunchly refused to let her paint him, continuing to avoid her as he provided the TARDIS with needless maintenance. 

The ship groaned as he reached for a hammer from his spot. 

Rose smirked and reached over to stealthily slide the hammer away. When the Doctor popped his head out with a quizzical expression and began to search for it she held it up with a cocked brow. “She really doesn’t like when you hit her.”

“I’m not hitting her,” he replied, his hand outstretched. “It’s-”

“Percussive maintenance, yeah, yeah.” She waved him off. “Just because you call it maintenance doesn’t mean it is.” As carefully as she could she placed the hammer underneath the jumpseat. The second it touched the floor she felt the TARDIS hum and displace the air where the hammer had been. “See!” She looked up to see the Doctor shrugging on his jacket with an eye roll.

He pulled the leather down and moved to sit next to her, picking up her book as he did. Then, as it caught the corner of his eye, he looked down at it with a frown. “What’s this?”

“Oh, it's nothing,” Rose blushed. She reached across him to snatch the book away but as she did so he pulled it out of her reach. “Doctor, really it's nothing!” She felt her cheeks flush. While she had openly been drawing him she didn’t expect him to actually look at what she was doing. She never showed anyone but her mum her drawings. Especially when they were only half done. 

Her struggling for the pad was made futile when he stood and held it up to his face. He traced over her lines carefully taking in the way she shaded his eyes and drew the creases between his brows. It wasn’t her best work, in fact she hadn’t sketched a person in years. But it was good practice and helped calm her down when the stillness of their life made her antsy. Still, the intense way he looked at the character of his own face made her squirm in embarrassment. 

“It’s not my best-” She was about to go on a tirade about the emptiness that she always managed to accidentally put in what should be soulful eyes, and the problem she had with shading in his short hair.

He shook his head. “No, it’s good. It’s really good.” His fingers followed the lines of his jaw for a moment, he swallowed and looked back at her. The pad was offered up between them, their fingers brushing for a short moment. “This what you do when locked up in the library?”

Rose tamped down her blush and bit her lip. “Better than reading you’re science gibberish.”

He scoffed at her teasing tone, and just like that the moment broke and the humming of the TARDIS flooded them with amused tones. He looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “So, where to?” His eyes turned down and caught hers.

Rose stared at him in confusion. “You’re letting me choose?” She laughed. “No surprise for me?”

He shrugged. “We’ve also gone to my picks, I wanna know where Rose Tyler wants to go.”

She smiled shyly and fiddled with her pencil. Where did she want to go? She almost laughed, years ago she would have pried the Doctor for a trip to Rome or someplace warm like the Bahamas, but she’d gone there with him already. Her past, his future, or maybe not if she decided to not beg him after all. The tenses of it all gave her a headache. Really, she just wanted to do something normal, something she hadn’t done with him before where she didn’t have to feel that lingering guilt of the Dalek. She looked up. “Home. Can you take me home?”” 

The Doctor’s face fell “Why would you want to do that?” He fiddled with his sonic, teasing it between his fingers in what she could only assume was an attempt of nonchalance. 

Rose frowned at the unexpected dour mood. “Because she’s my mum. Calling is great and all but I’d like to see her with my own eyes every once and awhile.” Especially since she couldn’t guarantee when she’d next see her mum. “Besides,” Rose pursed her lips. “I think we might have already visited her in her past.”

The Doctor looked properly confused, and if it weren't for his already confusing personal timeline Rose would think he didn’t understand what she was saying. “How’d that happen?” 

Rose shrugged. “I don’t know, but last time-” He winced at the mention of their last visit to her home. (The TARDIS was still hiding pears in his drawers). “She mentioned that you were alien, which I never told her, and that we had already visited. So did Mickey, actually.” It was her turn to wince at  _ that  _ reminder. 

His brows furrowed. “That shouldn’t be possible.” He shook his head and turned back to the console. “Well, Powell Estate, London it is. A quick visit?” He turned to her with an expectant look.

_ Oh.  _ Rose grinned, he thought she meant she wanted to leave.  _ Stupid alien, stuck with me remember?  _ She smiled and stood as they landed. “Why, you wanna come?” 

“What, to visit your mum?” His face scrunched up despite the obvious relaxation of his shoulders. “My face is still sore from last time, no thanks.” 

“You deserved that slap and you know it.”

“Of course I did. I just don’t want a repeat. Besides, I don’t do domestic.” He sniffed and turned. Rose’s own face fell at his words.

There it was. That dreaded word;  _ domestic.  _ It was like a plague on their lives. Anything even remotely attached to that word left the Doctor running in the opposite direction. And it left her with a sinking feeling in her gut. The kind of feeling that reminded her of her own insecurities, the kind that drudged up unwanted memories and painful scars. It reminded her of what could have beens and if onlys; things she didn’t want to think of.

She frowned and worried her lip. The blunt pain a subtle distraction from spiraling thoughts. “Come on. Just this once.” The Doctor leveled her with a stern look and when her answering pout did nothing to sway him she sighed “Besides, you have to at some point. Mum said she met you. Something about...you dragging me and her into danger.” It was dirty, but she could see she had finally piqued his interest.

He rolled his eyes and looked down to the TARDIS grating. She could tell without even looking at his face that he was trying to talk himself out of it. But curiosity got the better of him and with a long suffering exhale he straightened. “Fine, but she’s not stepping one foot inside the TARDIS.”

Rose stuck her tongue between her teeth and grinned. “Deal.” She spun on her heel and pushed the doors open to the familiar grey streets of the Powell Estate.

She jogged up the metal stairs listening as the Doctor’s own trudging steps followed. She didn’t bother knocking on the old door leading into what had been her home for nineteen years. Instead, she threw it open, shaking her head at her mum forgetting to lock it, again. 

The flat was exactly how she left it. Cramped and messy, covered with the touch of Jackie and Rose Tyler. The bright walls were still covered with photos of their faces, with the odd picture of Pete or mum’s old ‘Wednesday Girls’ group. The last one always reminded her of how much mum lost; not just Pete, but Odessa too and, eventually, everyone but Bev and her.

“Interesting photo.” The Doctor leaned over her shoulder startling her.

“Mum used to pub crawl on Wednesdays. Then dad died, and Odessa-Mickey’s mum.” She smiled sadly. She shook herself out of it and turned. “All in the past now.”

The Doctor frowned and continued to stare at the wall, his mind no doubt connecting the Jackie in the photos with the woman he met.

Rose turned to search for her mum. “Mum,” she called. “I’m home.” She crept down the hall where she could hear the television playing some rerun of Eastenders. Michael Keatings voice cut across the static of the air and the bustling of someone in the kitchen. “Mum!”

The sounds in the kitchen stopped. Then, Jackie Tyler, with her hair piled on top of her head and her makeup surprisingly absent, emerged from the kitchen with a mug clenched tightly in her fist. “Rose,” she gasped. And before Rose knew it her arms were filled with her mum, her face plastered with kisses. “Oh, Rose! My sweet girl.” She pulled back and her face shifted from a soft dreamy look to one hardened and stern. The same look Rose would always get before being grounded. “Where have you been! It’s been two weeks since you last called. And you!” She pushed Rose to the side and pressed her pointed finger into the Doctor’s face. “So called ‘Doctor’! She’s nineteen and you whisk her away without my permission. I don’t care that she’s learning from you, if you so much as touch her-” She raised her hand.

“Mum,” Rose pressed herself between them. The Doctor’s face was frozen in shock and, while somewhat funny, she couldn’t let her mum chase him away. “He brought me home, okay?”

Jackie crossed her arms and huffed. Blonde strands fell in her face, and she angrily wiped them away as she stared Rose down. “Are you staying, then? Oh, I just removed my makeup! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” 

Rose closed her eyes and sighed. She wanted to lean back against the Doctor behind her, while she was pretty certain he would allow it, she was just as certain her mum would take it the wrong way. In the worst way possible. “Mum, come on. Let’s have some tea and sit, okay?” She steered her mum back into the kitchen with her empty mug.

“Honestly Rose!” Jackie huffed and shook her off. “Go sit. And you!” She pointed at the still stricken Doctor. “Sit. I expect you to answer my questions.” Then her brow softened and she smiled. “How do you like your tea?”

The Doctor stood, eyes darting between the two Tyler women. Shock plastered his brows to his hairline. “Uh, two sugars?” His eyes landed on Rose with a distinct panicked expression. Rose carefully schooled her expression, despite the simple she felt tugging at her lips, and pushed her mum towards the kitchen.

“Take a seat Doctor.” She pointed to the couch and curled up on one side of it. 

The credit for the Eastenders episode began to roll by the time Jackie returned with three steaming cups balanced between her hands. Rose smiled at the concentrated look on her face as she carefully stepped over what appeared to be a mess of paint bottles and hair dye strewn across the floor.

“Still working at the salon, mum?” She nodded to the mess and reached for her mug, blowing steam off just before taking a sip.

“Oh!” Jackie turned as she sat and looked at the pile. “I forgot I left those out, I was cleaning your room actually. But, yes, ‘m still working. Honestly it's only been a bit since you ran off.” She huffed and turned her narrowed eyes on the Doctor. “Or kidnapped,” she muttered.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Mum! Leave the poor bloke alone.” She nudged the Doctor who sat still as a rock with his eyes trained on the mug in his hands. “Last week he saved me from a collapsing tunnel.”

“A what!?” Jackie screeched.

Rose winced and placed her tea down, preparing to leap into the story head first, with a few modifications. But before she could she felt a tinge at the back of her mouth, a light sting that pooled into a taste of copper blood. The cup in her hand vibrated against her skin. And suddenly her mother’s face blurred and disappeared, along with the rest of her.

Rose shot up and reached for where her mother was with empty hands. “Doctor?”

The Doctor stood at her side with a hard look pulling at his brows. “Stay here, Rose.” He reached into his jacket for the sonic and began to trudge back to the door.

Rose, of course, followed. Only pausing when the door swung open by itself to reveal Jackie Tyler, her clothes and makeup perfectly intact and a bag of groceries between her hands.

“Mum?” Rose stepped between the Doctor and her mum jumping back as Jackie screamed and sent her bag flying through the air. “Mum, it’s me.” 

“Rose? Oh, Rose my sweet girl!” In an instant the bag was tossed to the floor and Rose’s arms were filled once again with a frantic Jackie Tyler.

Just over her mum’s shoulder Rose shot a confused look towards the Doctor, who only answered with a frown and turned brow. Clearly, they both knew something was going on. As Jackie pulled back she saw the Doctor inch closer towards the door.

“Where have you been! It’s been two weeks since you last called. And you!” Before he could reach for the handle Jackie turned on him, exactly as she had only a few minutes before. 

Rose’s eyes widened. Quickly she stepped between them, facing the Doctor. “Okay, something’s wrong. TARDIS?”

He nodded and opened the door. “TARDIS.”

The two of them stepped out onto the creaky stairs. They scurried down towards the TARDIS as Jackie called after them. “Oi! Where are you two going? Rose! Rose-” 

Rose jumped the last stairs and hit the pavement with a hard thud that rattled her knees. She adjusted and followed after the Doctor, slipping through the TARDIS doors as her mum called after them. “What do you think it is? Teleportation, time-loop?” She heaved in a breath.

“Time loop, but we aren’t being affected.” He frowned.

“Could it be the TARDIS? We could test it on mum, and why a time loop? What would cause it, wouldn’t reapers be showing up,” Rose mused.

But the Doctor didn’t answer, and when she looked up she saw shock plastered across his face. “What?”

“How do you know about reapers?”

Rose felt herself grow cold. “Well I-you…” And then the doors burst open saving her from having to answer but showing a furious and bewildered Jaqueline Tyler. 

“What in the…” Jackie’s eyes took in the large, impossible room and without blinking she ran out, then back in. Her chest heaved and she reached for Rose. “Rose, get outside. Now.”

“Mum, I can explain-”

“Out! I don’t know what’s ‘appening but we’re leaving. Now!” She moved to drag Rose out. But Rose was stronger than her mum, thanks plenty to age and Torchwood training, so she held her ground. She grabbed her mum’s hand and pulled her back, pushing her onto the jump seat. 

“Mum, calm down.”

“Calm down! This is...this is insane Rose. What is this? It’s...it’s...It’s bigger on the inside!”

The Doctor piped up, “Yes, thank you. Why don’t you have a good ole panic outside so we can get back to figuring this out? Rose, look at this.” He pulled her attention away from Jackie and over to one of the view screens. 

“What am I supposed to be looking at, Doctor?” The screens were littered with maps of London, and every so often a pulse of blue light would sweep over the city. 

“Time dilation map. Look, there-” He pointed to a building where the blue lights seemed to blink in and out in rapid succession. “It seems whatever’s causing this is coming from-”

“Will someone tell me what the hell is happening!” Rose spun around to face Jackie, who stood with her arms crossed and fury written plain as day on her face. Her pupils blown wide with hidden panic.

“Mum-”

“This is why I don’t do domestics.”

“Doctor!” Rose scowled and clenched her fists at her side. “Okay,” she sighed. How to break it to her mum tactfully. When she had first told her mum it was in the middle of an invasion, but this time her mum already knew, or would already know, by the time that happened. “He’s well, he’s not-that is-””

“I’m not human.”

Jackie stared at them, unblinkingly flabbergasted. “What the hell are you on about?”

Rose flinched. “He’s-mum he’s not human, this is his spaceship.”

“Oh, so now he’s Martian?”

“No, not-he’s not a Martian, mum.” Rose pulled at her hair, whatever was causing this loop could reset the whole conversation and the idea alone gave her a headache.

Jackie scowled. “Well I don’t care about that! I care about what you’re dragging my daughter into!” Jackie stormed across the console and pressed her face into the Doctor’s space. Her finger jabbed at his chest. “You tell me what the hell is happening and why I should even allow you to look in my daughter’s direction ever again.”

“We’re helping people, mum. Something’s going on-”

“And you! You lied to me! Said he was a ‘doctor’!”

“He is-”

“I am-”

“Oh yeah!” Jackie whirled around. “Then stitch this, mate!” A resounding crack echoed across the room. 

Rose stared. A red bloom began to grow across the Doctor’s cheek, and the pained look that followed his shock looked just as it did the first time her mum had hit him. Back then it had been kinda funny. But, instead of laughing and brushing it off, Rose winced and grabbed Jackie’s wrist. “Mum, stop.”

They didn’t have time. Rose had no idea what was happening and her slip up from before meant the longer they stood around the more the Doctor would press her on it. “Both of you,” she shot a look over her shoulder. “I’m sorry I lied mum. But if I said I was running off with an alien you’d think I’d gone mental.. And-” She cut her mum off as Jackie opened her mouth to speak. “-even now I can see you don’t believe me. But we have to figure out what's going on, so either you stop and calm down or we kick you out and leave you at the Estate.” She raised a brow and waited for an answer.

To her front and behind her the Doctor and her mum stood in silence, jaws slacked. And for a moment even the TARDIS seemed silent. A beat, then another, and a short huff escaped her mum’s lips. 

“Well, then. What the bloody hell are you two trying to figure out?” 

Rose grinned and turned to the Doctor.

He stood in a stupor for a second and then straightened out. “Right...Well, we were at your house for about twenty minutes when you-”

“Got all static-y,” Rose finished. She crossed her arms and frowned. “Has it happened again.

“Near the Estate? No. But the TARDIS is picking up a surge of dilation near Islington.” He pointed to the screen over Rose’s shoulder.

“Wait, like The Angel Islington? From monopoly?” Rose turned as peered at the Doctor. 

He shrugged. “It’s possible. The Angel should be part of the Bank at this point, and under conservation. Invasions tend to happen around things like that.”

“Like the London Eye?” Rose teased.

“You’re never going to let that go are you?”

“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ and looked up at him under her eyelashes.

From behind Jackie spoke breaking the moment. “Or it could be the Spoons pub.”

The Doctor snorted. “It’s not the pub. Nothing interesting ever happens in pubs.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Sounds like you’ve never been to a pub. I could’ve sworn that’s where a bloke like you would have hung around picking up girls like my Rose.”

Rose shot her a look over her shoulder and shook her head. In response Jackie simply mouthed ‘what?’ and planted herself back on the jumpseat.

The Doctor murmured to himself, “It’s not the pub.” And reached for the console. “Hold on.”

Rose gripped the rail and smiled as the ship shuddered beneath their feet. Jackie’s gasp drowned out by the loud wheezing of the time rotor. “So we’re just storming right in, then?”

“Better than sitting around and letting a paradox happen,” The Doctor called back. “Besides, whoever’s causing this isn’t going to stop, even if they wanted to!”

The TARDIS shuddered and landed. The Doctor bounded his way towards the door and pulled it open, but he stopped short of stepping out the door. When Rose stepped behind him she saw why.

Black cars, familiar and foreboding, sat parked in front of a building. A pub building sat at 3 Islington High Street. The red letter ‘A’ had fallen off it’s sign, but it had not hit the ground. It lay, suspended in the air just above a pedestrian walking their dog. They too were frozen in a silent pose. And all around stood UNIT soldiers and scientists. No one seemed to move.

“Oh no,” The Doctor whispered. 

Rose took in the sight. A small sweat pricked at her neck as she looked up into the second story as a light flashed out sending a pulse through the air. Suddenly the group of people moved, only an inch or so, the letter moving closer to the ground and brushing the hair of the man who stood below it.

“Doctor?” Jackie had moved to stand behind them. “Rose? What is it?”

“Well, you were right. It is the pub.” The Doctor’s eyes traced over the cluster of cars. “This is worse than I thought.”

“What is it Doctor?” Rose spoke up, moving to step closer. Her eyes stayed locked on the falling letter. 

He took a moment as if suspended in time like everything else seemed to be. “It’s not a paradox we have to worry about. Whoever’s doing this is stopping time entirely. Or trying to, at least.” 

“And there in the building?”

“Yes.”

Jackie stepped forward. “And how do you get in if everything's frozen?” 

The Doctor looked back and nodded. “We should be fine. Rose and I weren’t affected when we were in the flat.”

“The TARDIS?” Rose asked, her foot already inching forward.

The Doctor nodded again. “She’s good at protecting against unwanted interference with timelines. But her shield can only extend so far. Better stay togeth-”

Rose was already tuning him out to step across the street. She had crossed the road and almost reached the man and his dog by the time the Doctor had noticed and called after her. 

“Rose don’t!”

She shrugged his warning off and reached for the man. As soon as she touched him she felt a jolt of electricity sting her hand. She pulled away with a gasp shaking out her hand. The man hadn’t moved. But when she reached for him again a cold hand gripped her wrist and pulled her back.

Rose wheeled around to face the Doctor’s furious gaze. “We can’t touch them! We’re moving at two completely different times and speeds, even if you did move him he’d shatter under the force.”

Rose looked back over her shoulder. “And if I don’t he’ll get crushed!” Another pulse scattered the air. The sign fell another inch, flattening his hair and pressing into his skull. 

“Rose! Stop, we have to stop whoever’s doing this or he’ll be stuck forever.”

“We can’t just let him die!”

The Doctor sighed and pulled her away. “I’m sorry but we have to go.”

“Rose, sweetie-” Jackie’s voice pulled her out of the Doctor’s gaze. “I don’t know what’s happening but he’s right. Let’s just go back and let ‘im sort it out.”

“If he’s going I’m going. That’s how this works.”

“Rose-”

She stamped her foot. “That’s final.”

The Doctor sighed. “Okay, the longer we wait the more permanent this could be. We have to go!” He clasped Rose’s hand in his and began leading them to the door. 

Jackie pulled at Rose's other hand. “You can’t just go in all willy nilly!” 

Rose sighed as the two continued their tug of war. She slipped herself out of their grasps and stepped round them to look at the closest UNIT scientist. She was a smallish woman, dark skinned with glasses perched on top of her nose. In her hands she held a small device, similar to the monitor the Doctor had shown her. But it’s readings had been frozen. The pulse looked different. Off from what the Doctor had seen.

Rose furrowed her brow and stepped closer, careful not to touch the woman. The screen was lit up with a steady burning light right on top of the building. It appeared nothing else had been affected by the time dilation. Another pulse passed through the area, and the woman shifted. Rose raised to watch the sign press further into the man’s head, his eyes turned to the soldier’s surrounding him. 

The screen still held the light, steady and still on that one spot. Slightly dimmer, possibly, but still the same. Rose frowned and shook her head. 

Something was off. She wasn’t sure what, but it didn’t sit right with her. 

Rose stepped next to the Doctor and reached into his pocket, barely taking notice of the argument he seemed to be stuck in.

“She’s a lot smarter than you give her credit for.”

“Oh I don’t doubt how smart she is. What I doubt is why you’re dragging her into this mess.”

“She’s an adult.”

“She’s my daughter!”

Rose slipped the sonic out of his jacket and stepped towards the door. The wood seemed to be splinted where the lock would be. Obviously UNIT wasn’t very tactile in how they dealt with a crisis. She turned the sonic to a scanning setting, the movement familiar even when she couldn’t remember the complex set of numbers and letters the Doctor assigned to it. She pressed down and felt the cylinder shake beneath her fingers. Nothing seemed to be in the lower bar room. So she leaned out the door and called out.

“Oi! You two done deciding what I get to do with my life?” She pointed behind her. “Let’s go, before this gets worse.”

The Doctor turned and gave her mum a smug smile and jogged over to her with a smile. She rolled her eyes and flicked his sonic over to him, shrugging when he gave her an astonished look. “You get distracted when someone says they know better than you. Have to have the biggest ego.”

“I do not!”

Rose shushed him and stepped inside. Broken glass crunched under her feet. And each step felt charged with electricity. Molasses thick air pressed against her skin. And beside her the Doctor stood, cool hand reaching for hers. Above their heads a steady thrumming pulse banged against the ceiling beams. 

Rose whispered over her shoulder, scared to disturb anything lurking in the darkness. “Mum, stay back.”

But, Jackie Tyler was a Tyler, and before that she was a Prentice. So Rose should have expected her response. “To hell with  _ that _ !” Another pair of shoes joined in crunching glass as Jackie stepped behind them.

The Doctor grimaced. “Told you I don’t do domestics.”

Rose shook her head and pushed forward, looking for a staircase. The three spread out in silent agreement, wandering to three corners searching for anything to lead them up and closer to the pulse above their heads. Still air settled in silence over their heads, even Jackie had hushed under the stagnant air. And then another pulse echoed through the air and rang through Rose’s bones. 

Behind her Jackie crept up. “What are we looking for?”

Rose looked over her shoulder in confusion. It wasn’t that she was necessarily surprised, but Jackie had never shown interest in alien stuff even when living in Pete’s world. But she caught her mum’s eye, and in it sparkled that same determination Rose had felt when she first met the Doctor. She smiled to herself and straightened. “A way up to whatever that pulse is.”

“Well, that’s easy, there’s a staircase behind the bar. In the back.” Jackie pointed behind her and turned to walk towards it.

Rose met the Doctor’s eyes. 

“Wednesday Club?” He asked.

She shrugged and turned and crept across the floor after her mother, feet dancing around upturned tables and glass.

In a small room in the back, leading out into another hall, sat a creaky wooden staircase. Up its winding path was another hall, short and ending in an old oak door worn down from years of use. Jackie had reached it and was rattling at the door’s stuck handle. She sighed and crossed her arms.

“Well, it’s locked. Any ideas Mr. Mars?”

The Doctor shoulder past Rose and leaned in close. If he were in his next body she would have expected him to lick the thing with how close he was, instead he merely raised a fist and rapped a knuckle against the surface. “Wood. Sonic doesn’t work on wood.” He looked back at Jackie. “Also, I’m not from mars.”

“Well, how would I know? You just waltzed into our lives and-”

Rose stepped between them and shook the doorknob. She sighed and leaned back. Then, with a swift kick she cracked the wood next to it. Another hard kick shook her leg and sent the door flying inward. She let herself feel smug at the gaping looks her mum and the Doctor sent her, however, she stopped short at the sight of the room.

A cold shot of fear dipped into her spine. 

It was chaos. The only way to describe it. Men and women in black uniforms were blinking around the room, each pulse of light pressing them into different positions with their faces contorted in deeper set fear each time. And in the middle of it all stood another planet. 

“Bloody hell,” Rose whispered. Wind from the rift splitting the room whipped at her hair and pressed a humid air, unlike the London chill she was used to, over her. And inside the glowing pulse of a split reality sat a room made of purple and pale brown rock. With creatures similar in size to human children and yet completely different staring in horror back at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Information and Donation sites about Black Lives Matter  
> Canada: https://blacklivesmatter.ca  
> America: https://blacklivesmatter.com  
>  https://www.aclu.org  
> And plenty more. Be safe, be informed, know you are loved.


	18. Mother's Day: Maternal Instinct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this chapter concludes my original adventure. Admittedly these two chapters have been less about plot and more about furthering Jackie and Mickey's character arcs because we rarely see them in canon outside of the beginning or end of episodes and Father's Day was unlikely to happen since Rose knows better now. Plus, I needed to do some setup for other things....Anyway, please tell me what you liked, what you didn't like and if you think future episodes can be replaced with originals.

The painful twist of fear churned in her gut as the three aliens stared back at them. Rose felt her mum slip her hand around hers and pull her back a step. But her eyes stayed on the impossible scene in front of her.

“Rose?” Jackie’s grip tightened as she looked upon the trio. Shocking purple eyes and pale, red skin framed with pale hair stared back. Androgynous creatures with odd hanging arms and large heads. Small in stature, and completely-“Alien. Oh my god. They’re aliens! Proper aliens!”

“What am I, chopped liver?” The Doctor retorted as he pulled the sonic in front of them holding it up to the trio of creatures. “What are you? What are you doing?”

The aliens looked at each other with furtive glances. Then, the smallest of the three stepped forward. If they were human, Rose would assume they were no older than five. They barely reached her thigh, and as they walked forward they stumbled and dragged their feet. But when they finally looked up at the Doctor from behind the rift in the middle of the room, their eyes filled with a steady defiance. “Who's asking?”

Rose had to bite her cheek. The alien’s voice was soft, and childlike like she expected but the words sounded so much like a teenager she could imagine herself in its place. Clenched fist and flanking friends as they stared up at the Doctor.

The Doctor himself looked a bit taken aback. He steadied himself, despite the confusion pulling down his brows, and straightened the sonic at them. “ _I_ am. I'm not going to ask again, what are you doing?” 

The trio once again looked amongst themselves. Rose's eyes narrowed, the kid-like creatures looked incredibly lost, unsure how exactly to answer this large man who was pointing what they probably assumed was a weapon of some kind. Her eyes darted back to the Doctor and took in his posture. Tensed shoulders, wild eyes filled with rage as the statues of humans surrounded them on their side. But she could see the uncertain fear he was radiating, and the answering looks in the aliens eyes. She had to stop herself from pulling the Doctor back physically. “Doctor,” she said instead. “I don’t think they know what they’re doing.”

He didn't take his eyes off of them, even as they jumped at her voice. “Why do you say that?”

As she opened her mouth to speak, her mum answered, “They’re kids!” She moved into the room and stood shoulder to shoulder with Rose. Her eyes trained on the small figure in front. “How old are ya?” If she wasn’t holding Rose’s hand she might have crouched down near the schism. 

Rose anchored her to the spot with her grip, warily watching the interaction as another blast of energy enveloped the room. Neither the Doctor nor her mum seemed to have been affected but the still figures of UNIT personnel once again twitched into new positions as their faces twisted in increasing pain and fear. Rose winced and saw the trio’s own eyes widen at the spectacle.

The tallest of the three shrank back as the Doctor’s eyes snapped to them. “Stop it!” He shouted. The twitch in his jaw belaying his anger. His hand tightened on the sonic. 

“Doctor,” Rose chastised just as the small one spoke up.

“We didn’t mean to do anything! We just found it!” They backed up into the skittish, tall one. Carefully wrapping a small limb around them protectively. “It was an accident at first. But then it brought back Alo.” They’re arm wrapped even more tightly around the tall one. “We just kept it running!"

Rose’s eyes widened. And she peered around the three to see what exactly they were talking about. It didn’t look like a machine, really, it looked more like a tangle of metal. A modern art sculpture, which surrounded a blue, seed-like object that pulsed in steady beats. Then she looked at the tall one-Alo if her hunch was right.

She gasped. “Oh, Doctor, they’re not freezing time.” The steady pulse from the UNIT scanner came to mind. It was like when she stopped her dad from dying-the memory stung at the back of her mind. "They went back. They stopped him from dying."

The Doctor lowered the sonic, with a slack look on his face as he stared at Alo. Pity and sorrow raging in his eyes. “Oh no.”

“Oh no?” Jackie turned to them. “What do you mean?”

The Doctor ignored her and crouched in front of the trio. “Alo?” He looked to the tallest, who-from behind the protective stance of the smallest-nodded. “Did the machine bring you back?" 

The smallest frowned as the Doctor ignored them for Alo, but did nothing as Alo stepped out of their grip. "Yes." Their voice was meek, quiet as if whispered, but noticeably deeper than the other's.

The Doctor bowed his head. "The machine, when it brought you back what happened?”

They looked towards the quietest of the trio, who stood at they’re side. When they shrugged Alo answered. “I was dying. There was a sickness, and I was getting worse. And then the blue light came and it stopped.”

The smallest spoke up. "The machine sent us back to him, and we made it stop him from going forward."

The Doctor nodded and looked around them at the machine, something unknown crossing over his face. “That,” he pointed at the machine. “Shouldn’t exist. And neither should you. It’s a paradox machine, stopping time enough for you to stop you from dying. Once it’s turned off-”

“I’ll get sick again.”

The Doctor frowned and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, that’s bollocks.” Jackie stepped forward and crossed her arms. “He’s just a kid!”

“And that paradox machine will spread anywhere a TARDIS is!” His voice boomed, and Jackie stepped back in fear.

Rose frowned and placed a hand on his heaving shoulder. “Doctor?”

He sighed and wiped his hand down his face. Stalling for a moment before standing with a slight grimace. “It’s a TARDIS pod.” He frowned at the machine. “It shouldn’t exist, but a TARDIS is the only way to make a paradox machine. Luckily, it’s only a seed so it can’t do much. But-y’know how TARDISes are telepathic?”

Rose nodded, she willed her brain to catch up with his. And she cursed not knowing the outcome to this particular adventure.

“They’re sisters in a sense. Grown only on one planet.”

“Gallifrey,” Rose continued. Gallifrey, which was destroyed-so the pod was a relic, something that really shouldn't exist. “So they attach to each other telepathically.”

“And feed off of each other. If one machine projects a time dilation field, any other nearby would as well.” The Doctor grimaced. “Which means this rift was caused by me.”

“It’s why mum was affected before.” Rose squeezed her eyes shut. She felt a headache forming, and pressed her mind back to the TARDIS. Her golden threads wove their way through the aches in her head and pushed her toward the schism. Another light brush crossed her consciousness. Her eyes opened and stared at the pod. “And before you blame yourself for everything-” She shushed the Doctor. “It’s not your fault. It’s a good thing this happened on Earth anyway.” She frowned. “It is just on Earth...right?”

“Should be.” He sighed. “Alright, I just need to grab the pod and shut it down. We should still be in the TARDIS’s range.” He stepped forward and pressed his leg through the schism. 

Before the Doctor could fully step through the smallest of the trio shot forward and shoved him back. “NO!” They planted themself firmly in front of the portal. “You can’t take him away!” The second unnamed creature also stepped forward, and blocked their view of the machine.

“If I don’t shut that machine down-” Another pulse emitted from the seed and hit the room like a wave. A soldier close to Rose let out the smallest sound of pain, as he twitched closer to her side, his eyes unfocused and dazed. Rose felt the pit of her stomach drop into a churning whirlpool of nausea. The image of other soldiers in black screaming in pain disrupted her thoughts. She turned away.

The Doctor himself looked on in horror. 

"If you do, you kill our brother!" The quiet one had shouted, their words forcing the Doctor to step back. "You'll kill him to save people we don't even know!"

Rose's face screwed up. The pain of the alien's voice was apparent in it's force, but hid a fear underneath. As they stepped forward, however, she saw a fierce protectiveness framed by defiance. And her spine tensed as if these small creatures were as dangerous as any other she had come across. Desperation was a powerful thing, especially in the arms of the naive.

However, Jackie, unperturbed by her and the Doctor's tensed stances, shouldered forward with a determination unsuspecting in the current circumstances. Her shoulders were pulled up and back as she knelt in front of the small alien. Rose waited for the shoe to drop. For venomous words or a fierce slap.

But Jackie did none of that, she simply knelt down to their level. And she smiled. The same way she used to when Rose was younger-when she had done something stupid, and irrational. Back when her mum would simply tell her what she had done was wrong and send her on her way with a small smile. Rose watched and moved to hold the Doctor back. But she kept herself prepared to spring into action.

“Hello, sweetie.” Jackie started, drawing the creature's eyes from the Doctor and Rose. “Could you tell me your names?”

The smallest figure looked at her in confusion. Their angry brows drew downward as they searched her face. “Zuala.” They frowned and looked back at the quiet one by their side. Their eyes hadn't left the Doctor, instead they remained trained and narrowed like a laser as their stance mimed the Doctor's. “That’s Tal.” They pointed to Alo next. “Alo. Why?”

Jackie smiled and repeated their names back. “I'm Jackie. You remind me a bit of myself. I lost someone too. A long, long time ago-I’d give anything to bring ‘im back just to say goodbye. To apologize.”

Zuala frowned as they took in her words.

Rose herself felt her throat tighten at the memory of Pete, her own father and the one she left behind in the alternate world. She turned her head to stare at the Doctor’s shoulder, and reached down to grasp his hand.

Jackie continued. “Did you mean to bring Alo back?”

Zuala looked up at her, and shrank in on themself. “When we found it, it was broken but Tal fixed it. Then the blue light came, and by the time we got home we found Alo was alive."

“So you went back in time?”

Zuala perked up. “Alo’s our brother, we couldn't just let him die. When we took him back the machine pulsed again, but this time he wasn't affected, just like us. So we kept it running.”

“And what about your parents?”

“Tal went to see them, but they were gone.”

Tal shook their head sadly. “I went into town to see where they were but I didn't recognize anyone, and they didn't recognize me.”

Jackie tilted her head and looked up at the Doctor. “They didn’t know you?” Her body remained facing the children, and as she received no answer from the Doctor, only a shrug, she turned back to them to softly whisper in a soothing tone as tears and flushed cheeks filled out their faces.

The Doctor’s eyebrows furrowed and he looked down at Rose as if she would know. She shrugged and then began to think. “They went too far back?” She whispered to the Doctor, unwilling to draw attention from Jackie as she calmed the kids down. "So why are people freezing on our side? Why the portal?"

“It's probably still broken. Projecting a dilation field as well as a paradox barrier is a lot for a pod. The field around the TARDIS when she picked it up was enough to send your mum back an hour, but she's stopped projecting as best she can." He swallowed and looked over his shoulder, staring off into the unknown. "Not to mention projecting through whatever this rift is."

Rose rubbed at her temple. "So, time makes no sense and now we have a hole in space that you don't understand?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Thought you knew everything."

He nudged her back, as his eyes turned their focus to her mum. "Can't know everything. But I'd bet UNIT had something to do with it, probably found an errant signal from the pod and opened up their TARDIS experiments on it." At her confused look he sighed. "Story from another time, back from when I was stuck on Earth. He shook himself and focused once more on what Jackie was doing. “I’m surprised, never thought your mother would be the calming type.”

Rose shrugged. "Maternal instinct she always said." A smile tugged at her lips. “She’s the only one on the Estate who never threatened to spank me, even when I broke her favourite mirror.”

The Doctor smiled to himself. His body finally relaxing into their banter.“So that’s where the bad luck comes from.”

“Thought I was just Jeopardy Friendly.” She nudged him. But just as he opened his mouth to retort Jackie stole their attention.

“Don’t you miss them? Your parents?” Her vice was louder, most likely in her attempt to direct their attention.

Zuala looked down, their light hair obscuring their eyes. They shifted their weight and when they spoke it was noticeably less charged with conviction, “But if we stop then he’ll be gone...”

Jackie’s face fell, and without warning she pressed herself through the schism and into the alien world. Her arms wrapping tightly around Zuala in a crushing hug. Softly, so softly that Rose couldn’t hear, she murmured in the child’s ear as she rubbed her back. Then she reached out to hold the hand of Tal as Alo looked on, pain and deep thought written on his face.

“If we don’t turn it off, what happens?” His purple eyes turned up to stare at the Doctor. 

The Doctor shifted at Rose’s side. And with a downturn of his lips he met the child’s eyes. He didn’t mince his words when he spoke, but his bluntness was framed with a softened voice. “The temporal field will bloom outwards from your planet and Earth until they meet. Time will be in flex, travelling back and forth till the TARDISes sync up. I'll be grounded unless we spread the paradox, but Earth and your planet will be stuck reliving a set amount of time over and over until the end of time. Or until the pod rips itself open. Then the reapers...” He paused, his brows crossing as he looked curiously at Rose. He shook whatever thought he had been caught up in and continued his speech. "Reapers will come, and they tear apart everything in the paradox, Earth included."

The Doctor swallowed under the dawning horror on the child’s face. He looked to Rose who, herself, couldn’t hold back the growing terror in her eyes.

She shuddered. 

Alo turned to look at the machine behind him. He nodded to himself. “How do we turn it off?”

The Doctor grimaced. “I can handle that.” He stepped forward and moved to cross over, pulling Rose along with him.

"No!" Tal moved to block the Doctor, but Alo pushed him back.

"It's not worth it, I'm not worth it."

"Of course you are!"

Alo's hands moved to clasp his sibling's shoulders. Lilac eyes stared into lilac. "I'm sorry I left so soon, but think of our parents, of Zuala. You're smarter than this, Tal."

Rose felt a sting in her throat as tears slipped down the small alien's face. Tal's eyes shifted into a watery despair as they crushed themselves against their brother. The two held each other for a long moment, until Zuala slipped out of Jackie's arms to join in. "Please don't go."

"Every one has to leave eventually. Just be glad we get to say goodbye."

Rose turned away at the sting of her own tears. She inhaled a shuddering breath and felt the Doctor pull her closer. Her head pressed against his shoulder as she heard Alo begin to mutter in low tones. Whimpering grew to steady cries. And her heart sank in her chest.

The Doctor shifted and began to move the two of them forward. “C’mon, let’s go see the machine.”

Rose felt the strange, molasses like shift in the air as he pressed them past the schism. A humid air hit her face. So unlike the cool, grey air of London. For a moment she forgot to breathe, automatically assuming the air was inhabitable as her body stiffened under the change in pressure. Then she gasped in a breath and found the air to go down smoothly, cooling her throat as it filled her chest.

He led her by the hand, ignoring the soft cries behind them, towards the strange, twisted, metal machine. And while Rose tamped down the tightness of her chest, she allowed a spark of curiosity to fill her mind. 

At a distance it had looked nothing like a machine. More akin to something in a modern art exhibit rather than the deadly terrifying thing it actually was. But up close, she could see the power that it wielded. The silver chrome wrapped around the seed like a cage, inscribed with symbols in the same scrawl the Doctor wrote it. Laced throughout its innards were strings of wire, piercing the blue flesh of the heart of it, and exiting coated in dancing, golden dust. Another pulse beat from the machine, it’s seed pulsating in time as the dust scattered into a blue tinged glow. 

Rose felt herself slow as the wave hit her. Her body turned to molasses under her control. And then it passed just as quickly as it had come.

Rose swallowed. “So how do we stop it?” She risked a glance over her shoulder. Jackie had kept her arms wrapped around the trio, either keeping them at bay or holding them in comfort, now stood facing her and the Doctor. Worried eyes and raised brows over tear stained cheeks. She quickly turned away.

The Doctor, for his part, said nothing of the group situated behind them. Instead, his eyes were locked on the machine. A far-away look crossed over his face, and Rose had to pull herself back from stopping his reminiscing. She knew where he had gone. Soon enough, he snapped back filled with the steely determination she was used to. 

“It’s still just a pod, not nearly as difficult to dismantle. It’ll take time-”

“We don’t have time.” Rose looked back at the room back in London. The last wave had hit them and the soldiers had shifted further leaving a clear view of the shattered window. The longer they waited the more the sign fell. The more destruction the paradox could cause. Rose frowned. “What do you need?”

The Doctor sighed. “Time, more than anything.” He muttered under his breath as she stepped away. “Once I shut it off, the connection with Earth will stutter. Everything will snap back into place.”

“Can’t you bring it to the TARDIS?”

“If I do we risk the damage becoming permanent here.” He frowned up at her as he crouched down. “The connection here has to be severed properly or we risk time-locking the planet as it is. The same with the connection to London.”

Rose frowned, her head began to pound. “How long will it take?”

“If I’m going fast-Five minutes.” He scowled. Already he was raising the sonic, ignoring the spark of the metal as he reached for the machine. 

Rose smirked. “Good, that’s all I need.”

The Doctor didn’t turn from his work, but he did deepen his frown and asked out of the corner of his mouth, “What do you-?”

But Rose had already pressed herself back into London. Her boots crunched against glass and thudded down the stairs as she ran for the TARDIS, carefully weaving her way through the crowd. As soon as she burst through the door she smiled. On the coral to her right sat exactly what she needed. And she pressed a warm thanks to the TARDIS. 

Picking up the light cable she ran back out and towards the man. The large letter had already begun to press into his head. Rose grimaced as she reached around him to pass the rope through it. Tying it with the tips of her fingers as she tried not to touch either man or sign. Once she was certain her knot was sturdy enough to grip the sign she attached a weight to the other end. 

Now, Rose was not a thrower. She hated baseball, and never cared for softball like Shireen had-it was just baseball with a new name-but she did have pretty decent hand-eye coordination. And she had a few minutes left. So she backed up off the sidewalk and aimed for the second story window. Praying she wouldn’t hit anyone. She threw the rope. 

And somehow, it flew through the air and into the window, smashing into the small bit of glass on the bottom edge of the opening. She let out a little cheer, and laughed. 

By the time she had finally ran back up and spotted the rope she was panting with exhaustion and excitement. The deep pit in her stomach covered with adrenaline. She scooped up the rope and wrapped it quickly around her waist and over her arms, tightening it with all her grip until the line went rigid.

Behind her she heard her mum calling her name with confusion. 

“I’m fine! Whenever you’re ready, Doctor!”

From further back she heard a loud boom, followed by the Doctor calling out. “Now! Run Jackie!”

Rose turned her head to see her mum, pressing the children out of the portal and into London. She attempted to pull Alo after them, but he simply shook his head as the building around them began to shake and crumble. The Doctor ran by, pulling Jackie firmly back into London. His Jacket wrapped around something in his arms. 

Zuala and Tal cried out for their brother as the world around them shook. A burst of silver and gold shot out and wrapped around him. And the portal shuddered shut. 

The air in London grew warm. A press of tension wrapped around Rose in an instant, and suddenly the room filled with movement and the rope around her jolted her forward. 

A woman’s voice cried out in the street, a warning maybe. But nothing came of it. She heard a man exclaim in fear, but no crash, no scream. Simply a burn in her arms.

Another pair of hands wrapped around the rope in front of her, a jumper pressing into her back. “This is what you were doing?” The Doctor’s voice was low in her ear, as they grunted with effort to lift the sign. Slowly, the red letter rose up into view, and Rose pulled herself forward to grab its edge.

As it slipped through Rose answered the Doctor, with heaving breaths. “So you get to keep a souvenir but I can’t save a man’s life?” She looked over her shoulder at him. 

He stood without his jacket, instead the leather sat next to him on the floor, blue peeking out of its depths. He didn’t answer. Staring at her with shock until he registered the teasing in her eyes. He leaned to scoop the bundle up, and looked over the room.

Rose followed his gaze. The soldiers and scientist’s sat dazed on the floor, their heads in their hands as footsteps thundered up toward them. A medical team burst through the door, quickly swarming to tend to the confused group. All occupants of the room seemed to flash Rose and the Doctor curious glances, but their eyes were drawn away to the clearly alien pair on either side of Jackie. 

Rose looked up at the Doctor. “Do we bring them back?”

The Doctor watched the kids. His eyes softened with an odd look as they pressed their faces into Jackie’s side. “They still have their parents, once put back in their timeline. But, it’s not going to be the home they’re used to. No telling what destroying the machine did to their home. Or what they may have changed.”

“And we’re just gonna leave them like that?”

“There’s always a cost when you tamper with time.” The cold had seeped into his voice once more. And Rose felt herself shiver under the weight of his words. A painful squeeze pressed panic into her chest. His hand wrapped around hers, but the comfort he hoped to provide fell flat under the rapid beat of her heart. The Doctor let go when she didn’t squeeze his hand back. “Bring them to the TARDIS, I’ll talk to UNIT.”

Rose’s head snapped up. “You sure?”

He hummed and moved to press the bundle into her hands. He strode away, clearly intending to not be followed. And Rose tried not to let the relief wash over her at his departure.

On shaking knees she approached her mum and nodded her head towards the exit. Jackie simply nodded back and grabbed the alien children by their hands. Rose looked down and almost laughed to herself. In the confusion and mess of it all, she hadn’t noticed the missing fingers. They had only four fingers on each hand. But her mum didn’t seem to mind as they wrapped themselves around her.

They passed the street, the man and his dog surrounded by medics as he stared around him in bewilderment. But no one stopped them, although she did see several people stare as they neared the TARDIS. Rose ignored the heat of their eyes as she pulled the doors open and ushered her mum and the kids inside.

As the doors closed, the din of sound faded into the soft hum of the TARDIS. Her golden presence lulled at the back of Rose’s mind, but the panic continued to rise as the Doctor’s words repeated in her mind. 

_There’s always a cost…_

She felt tears prick at her eyes and pressed her forehead against the cool, wooden panels in front of her. A hand fell on her back and startled her. She jumped and turned only to see her mum’s brown eyes looking up at her with a soft, concerned look. It had been some time since Rose had been smaller than her mum, but in that moment she wished she was as small as Zuala so she could curl up into her arms and lay cradled against her chest. The fear of the unknown waged a war on her mind, a pounding headache the result of the turmoil. But as her eyes turned to fall upon the two children still standing pressed behind her mum she felt something in her break.

This had been Jackie’s first adventure, her first time learning about aliens. Rose hadn’t made her first go around easy on her mum and already she could see the hard crease of anxiety form at the edge of her eyes. The ageing look she hated so much had begun to weigh on her shoulders as the day dragged on. So she didn’t lean into her mum.

She raised her arms and pulled her in instead. Cradling her dye-dried, blonde head in one hand while the other patted her lightly between her shoulders. Her eyes met the two kids, and she managed a smile despite their tear-stained faces-despite the guilt that sight gave her. The missing third from their little trio.

And the silence stretched on.

Until the opening of the door broke it and the Doctor strode in with a purposeful stride. “All right,” he clapped, pausing to shoot Rose a questioning brow. She nodded and pulled away from Jackie, leaning to scoop up the discarded bundle. “Next stop, home.” He gave the kids a tight-lipped smile and pulled down the lever, sending the ship spiraling as her occupants scrambled to latch on to something solid.

Rose stared blankly at the Doctor’s back. Her tongue thick in her throat. It wasn’t hard to guess at the tense lines of his shoulders, the pull of his jumper tight across the width of him. For a second her heart had caught in her throat, too afraid that he’d guessed what she was, what Bad Wolf had done. But as his head turned to look over at Zuala and Tal, their frames still shuddering with fear as the ship shook around them-wide eyes caught between amazement and wariness-she saw something strange in his eyes.

Her breath caught at the sight. 

A memory floated to the surface of her thoughts. Months ago now, but a year in waiting for her mum, he had sat in their living room with a glint in his eye as a boy sat on his lap. And before then, or after, in a different body-a different _time_ -when he had told her.

It was like lightning had struck her.

The cold fear had washed away with a chilling sadness. Because she, for the first time, really understood something that had always pricked at the back of her mind.

He had needed someone. That’s what she had said to him-he shouldn’t be alone. When she left, when Sarah-Jane had, or Alistair, she had wanted him to keep going. To find new friends, a new partner even.

A family.

Her eyes turned to her mum, who held the same look in her eyes as the Doctor as she held out an arm over the two aliens. 

Jackie Tyler was not a progressive woman by any standards, but for all her ways she never turned away a soul in need. She had helped take in Mickey after his mother’s death, she had helped Shireen after her dad left, and when the Doctor needed her after his regeneration she didn’t hesitate. But Rose still managed to be surprised by the care she gave the children still at her side. All her mum’s earlier reluctance buried deep under the concern of a mother-despite their very alien appearance. And in her eyes she saw that familiar glimmer. The need to protect, the instinct that she always said came with parenthood.

An instinct the Doctor most likely had once felt.

One he still did based on the gentle downturn of his brows.

The ship shuddered. 

Rose clenched the rail between her fingers until the metal dug into her palms. Around her the room’s occupants moved steadily toward the door. Children’s hands clasped in her mothers as the Doctor led them out. She heard the door open and close, not a word spoken to her.

She let out a breath and sat down.

And frustrated tears began to spill from her face. 

A warm cloud swirled in her mind, the TARDIS carefully prodding at her pain with a curiosity only a partial machine could feel. She was detached in her comfort but Rose let herself fall into it. Another presence pricked at her mind. Rose jolted up, her eyes wide.

Whatever it was she could feel a faint silver trail slip into her mind. Faster than she could blink she slammed walls around her mind. Thick metal plates stacked on top of each other until she felt her head encased in dense steel. She hadn’t practiced much without the Doctor, but it seemed to be enough as the presence abruptly faded. The sliver of gold still stuck in her mind, however, turned her eyes to the bundle placed next to her. Bright blue peeking out of it’s black nest.

Rose frowned. “Did you do that?” She prodded the pod with a finger, and slowly let down her walls. The faint silver squirmed into her mind and lightly brushed against the gold of the TARDIS.

The door creaked open, and the pod’s presence quickly slithered back.

Rose raised her eyes to watch as the Doctor led Jackie back inside. “So, all settled then?” She tried to smile, even as her mind turned over the pod at her side. And the day that had preceded it. Her hands had quickly moved to wipe away her tears.

Jackie trudged up to her and sat down. “I don’t know how you do it.” She slumped down and placed her head against Rose’s. “Is this everyday?”

Rose met the Doctor’s eyes over her mum’s head. “No, just the bits in between.” 

He smiled down at them and scooped up the pod, leaning over to quickly send them back to London. “Get her to bed, I’ll deal with the pod.” He nodded over to Jackie, who’s slump put more and more weight on Rose’s shoulders.

“You’re not going to destroy it, are you?”

“No. I-The TARDIS will think of somewhere to store it, until we can find it a home.” 

Rose smiled and picked up her mum’s hand, ready to lead them both out to the London streets. “So, how did Zuala and Tal settle in?” 

Jackie’s eyes closed as they began to stand. Her feet slide along the floor at a slow pace, but quick enough that Rose didn’t drag her out. “It wasn’t pretty. It reminded me a lot of Odessa. Not the...not how Alo ended up. But, the mourning-the emptiness in their eyes when their parents came to hold them. It was like watching Mickey and Jackson all over again.”

“Like dad?” Rose let the words slip past her, quiet in the dark London night.

Jackie hummed. They had reached the flat, and were pushing it open. Warm, stale air hitting their face-the scent of home washing over Rose as they stepped through.

“Think they’ll get better?”

Jackie smiled tightly, her eyes tracing over the photos on the wall as they passed. “We did, didn’t we?”

A laugh bubbled out of her, and Rose squeezed her mum tightly. “Yeah, we did.”

They stood for a moment. Then Jackie mumbled against her cheek, “You’re sticking with ‘im aren’t ya? Even with all that?”

“Yeah, mum. I am.”

Jackie huffed. “He’s pretty impressive, I’ll give him that. I get why you’re so infatuated.”

Rose didn’t deny it. But she felt the lump forming in her throat. 

Jackie pulled back, rubbed her hands down Rose’s arms, and then stepped away. “Go on. Just give a call every once in a while, pop by for a visit?”

“Oh, mum,” Rose felt the tears well up, before they could fall she wrapped her mum in another tight hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

* * *

By the time she left it was not without a few more tears, and a kiss on the cheek before her mum departed for bed. But a weight on her chest eased.

She was inches from the TARDIS when she spotted him. He was hard to miss. The streets around the Estate had long since emptied under the dark night sky, most streetlamps barely worked enough to maintain any type of night activity. But she knew his gait, even if she had to pick him out amongst a crowd. And the weight returned to her chest. 

Mickey Smith was walking toward her with a vengeance. And Rose could only brace for impact.

“Rose!”

She tried to smile, but felt the corners of her mouth waver as he stepped even closer, now only standing meters apart. 

“Mickey,” she replied.

“Where the hell have you been! Dump me, yeah? And run off with some freak without a single call. You’re mum’s been worried sick, she has.” He stepped closer.

Rose felt a tension begin to form between her brows.

“I’ve called.”

“Not me.”

She looked at her boots. “No.”

Mickey huffed, his arms coming up to cross themselves. He tapped his foot impatiently as he looked behind her to the TARDIS. “He in there?” He nodded.

Rose moved to block the door. “Doesn’t matter. He’s not the one talking to you.”

“He sure as hell should be! He stole my girl-”

“Don’t you dare, Mickey Smith!” Rose glared up at him, clenching her fists to her side. She could only hope the Doctor was too busy with the TARDIS pod to be spying on them. “I broke up with you of my own free will, nothing to do with the Doctor.” The wariness in her bones melted into a seething heat. Her jaw locked.

“What then? How am I not good enough!” He pressed into her, pushing her back until she hit the TARDIS doors.

Rose raised a hand and pushed him back, not hesitating to recover her ground as he stumbled. “This isn’t about you not being enough. It’s about me.” Rose sighed and relaxed the tension between her brows as she frowned at the dirty pavement beneath them. “I used you Mickey-You have to know that. And I realized it wasn’t fair.” It wasn’t. She knew that. She’d known that for a long time. “You were safe, you were my best friend-you weren’t like-” She flinched.

“Jimmy Stone.”

Rose nodded.

“So what, I’m supposed to watch you run off with another bloke. I’m supposed to wait and pick up the pieces when he leaves you in the dust?”

Her teeth clenched. She pulled her arms down to her side and glared up at him from under her brows. “It’s not like that-”

“Yeah?” Mickey crossed his arms and moved to step in front of her, his frame filling her vision. “You think I’m stupid? You’ve always been like this Rose, searching for someone to fill the place your dad left. You crave adventure but can’t handle someone caring for you, someone keeping you safe. As soon as some bloke shows up with a hint of adventure and danger you run off! Ready to throw your life away just like your dad di-”

Rose’s hand flew up before she even could think to move. The slap echoed in the lonely street. She stared at his turned cheek in shock. 

“Mickey, I’m so-”

He raised a hand. “Save it, huh? I get it.” His feet shifted away from her, backing away as she stood powerless to stop him. “I’m just not good enough. Don’t have a guitar, don’t have a spaceship-” He shook his head. Before she knew it he had left, leaving the cold air to settle around her. 

Rose raised a hand to her mouth. She had never done that. Never once had she hurt Mickey, even as kids when she was mad at him. The slap was one thing, but her words she knew had cut deep. And so had his.

She stumbled back into the TARDIS, not noticing how or when she’d unlocked the door. Arms quickly scooped her up, and she felt herself relax into the soft leather of the Doctor’s chest, her hands clinging to his shoulder blades. The anger over his spying would come later, but she needed his friendship in that moment.

She let the tears fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I love Mickey, but I feel this moment was never really shown in the show. Them breaking up was an important moment in their stories because it pushed them both to become individuals outside of their comfort zone. Please note that Mickey's relationship with Rose and the Doctor will improve, and the next chapter will be a lot happier because Rose needs it after the Dalek and now this.  
> Also, Please support the BLM movement by going to any of these sites:  
> Canada: https://blacklivesmatter.ca  
> America: https://blacklivesmatter.com  
> https://www.aclu.org  
> And plenty more.  
> Stay safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and criticism is always welcome!


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